“This World Is Not My Home” is a classic song that is often sung in congregations. The song’s beautiful melody and inspiring words of something better in our lives to look forward to certainly contribute to making this a favorite song of many. But there is one phrase in this song that we will carefully consider. The phrase is “O Lord, you know I have no friend like you,” which is found in the chorus.
How do we define a friend? A friend is that special someone who we can share our most intimate secrets and confide our personal weaknesses and failures. We call someone a friend who we are able to spend enjoyable time with. Someone who we call a friend is one who is there to comfort us when we feel that we have no where else to turn, who will cry with us when we are in pain, and who will rejoice with us when we are happy. A friend is someone who will tell us the truth even when we do not want to hear it and who will correct us when we are on the wrong path. Our best friend is most likely a person who exhibits a combination of all these traits.
Consider the difference between someone who is an acquaintance and someone who is a friend. There are people we do things with or talk to that we do not consider our friends. There are people that we care about who are not our friends but are only acquaintances. An acquaintance is generally defined as someone we know but are not intimate with. There are many people such as coworkers, schoolmates, neighbors, and even many Christians who are only acquaintances. We do not give the title “our friend” to everyone we encounter.
Now think about the words of this song, “O Lord, you know I have no friend like you.” These words would have a strong meaning if they only read “O Lord, you know you are my friend.” That alone would be very difficult for us. To say that the Lord is our friend means that He is special to us, someone with whom we can share our intimate secrets. The Lord being our friend means that He is there for us during weeping and rejoicing. If the Lord is our friend we spend enjoyable time with Him discussing our lives together, confiding in Him our weaknesses and our failures.
But the song does not read, “O Lord you are my friend;” the wording is stronger than that. The song reads, “I have no friend like you.” In today’s terms that phrase means that the Lord is our best friend and no one is a better friend. Consider the depth of such a statement. When I say “O Lord, I have no friend like you,” it means that I turn to God first in the times of sorrow and times of happiness. It means that God is the one who comforts us when times are hard. It means that God is watching the path we are on and is actively correcting us. It means that God is the one we talk to the most. It means that God is the one whom we spend the most of our time with and whom we have an intimate relationship with.
Is God our best friend whom we know like the back of our hand? Or is God an acquaintance, someone we know but are not on intimate terms with? May we all be able to say, “O Lord, you know I have no friend like you.”