Good friends are a tremendous blessing to be nurtured and treasured. Yet, friendships are to have certain God-ordained limitations. The wrong kinds of friends and inappropriate associations have led many people away from the truth and astray from God. The Bible provides detailed instructions to help people avoid any relationship that tends to lead to rebellion against God. Although these instructions were explicitly given while Israel remained under the Law of God, they forever reveal God's feelings toward those who would lead someone away from Him. Just as it was instructed of the Israelites, men today should never consent nor hearken to those who seek to lure them astray (Deuteronomy 13:8). In refusing to listen to those individuals, a believer should never feel guilt or pity the so-called friend, but rather find joy from making the right decision.
Far too many times, the list of the average person’s wants is unending. Yet, an honest child of God recognizes that he has never lacked anything of necessity. Evidence of this truth exists in Deuteronomy 2:7 as the Lord expressed His care for Israel during the forty years of their wilderness wanderings. Very few people would consider the wilderness a place of plenty, yet the wilderness was the place where God furnished Israel “a table” (Psalm 78:19), “brought streams also out of the rock” (Psalm 78:16), and kept their shoes and clothes from deteriorating (Deuteronomy 29:5). God could honestly say to His people, though they wandered in a barren land, they “lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7).
