June 20
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Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. (James 2:23).
The word the Lord used about Moses and the Lord speaking to him face to face as a man speaks with his friend is the word which just means his neighbour or his companion. Another word is used here of Abraham which is altogether different, which means ‘loved one’. You may talk to your neighbour quite a lot, say a lot of things to your neighbour, but you will not say to him things that you will say to your loved one. So Abraham stands unique in this title - the friend of God.
Do you see why he was the friend of God? Do you see the basis of that exclusive title - God’s friend? Because of the utter abnegation of the self-life demonstrated and proved in his offering of Isaac. Abraham knew what that meant, "If Isaac goes, everything goes. But God is God and He has made a covenant, and I can afford to offer Isaac. In some way, God will bring Isaac back again." Paul said Abraham believed God who gives life to the dead (Rom. 4:17). And when you get through where you can so utterly let go to God because you believe so utterly in God that no matter how much you let go, there will be no loss in the long run where God is concerned; you are not going to lose anything or be limited by letting go to God utterly and absolutely. If we can come to that position with God and God seems to be striking at that in which everything is contained and with which everything is bound up, and say, ‘All right Lord, You are the covenant God; You have covenanted concerning this. I do not know how You are going to do it or what You will do, but I am going on with You’. That is the basis of this friendship.
From: The Cross and the Way of Life - Chapter 4
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