An Intimate Friendship With God?

In the twenty-ninth chapter of Job, we find Job mentioning an incredible relationship that he had once experienced:  “just as was in my most productive time, when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent.”  (Job 29:4)

What in the world could “when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent” possibly mean?

First, let’s look at the phrase “in my tent”.  Depending on the translation, the phrase might also be “on my tent” or “upon my tent” or “over my tent”.  Regardless of in, on, over or upon one’s tent, the Bible Hub website indicates that the “tent” symbolizes a household upon which God’s favor had been extended.  

Yet it wasn’t just God’s favor that Job was experiencing.  The Pulpit Commentary indicates that the phrase “God’s intimate friendship was experienced” could mean something like this:  “In my tent I held sweet counsel with God, and communed with him as friend with friend”.

There was also a theological meaning to it all.  The Bible Hub website notes this:  “This phrase highlights the intimacy and blessing of a life lived in accordance with God’s will.  It foreshadows the ultimate friendship with God through Jesus Christ, who calls His followers friends (John 15:15).” 

So it’s not just that God presence descends upon our tent and we live a life of blessing but we also must live in accordance with God’s will.  

And lest we think that the ultimate of it all is seeking His favor and blessing, the Bible Hub website notes this:  “the highest blessing is God’s nearness, not material prosperity”.

In that light, another to experience an intimate friendship with God was Moses.  In Exodus 33:11 it says:   “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend”.  Since other passages indicate that no one can see God, the “face to face” is likely an idiom which is understood to communicate intimacy and familiarity both of which point to being near to God. 

The nearness of God and communing with him as a friend with friend is what we should value above all else.  And having Jesus calling us friends should be a defining moment in our lives.