“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born of adversity.”
~Proverbs 17.17
“Friends” aren’t difficult to find in our modern world. Say something spicy online or reveal yourself inappropriately, and people will flock to you, “friending” or following you. If you are extremely popular, you will have no lack of sycophants who believe everything you post is “fire” and will dote all over you, trying to get your attention and share in your perceived or real power. Finding good friends, those who genuinely know you and not only your online presence, who will be loyal to you in good times and bad, who will make sustained efforts to maintain a close friendship, and who will call you out when you’re stupid despite your fame, those types of friends are rare jewels. They are difficult to find but priceless.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born of adversity” (Pr 17.17). As Solomon wrote this, “at all times” stands at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize the unshakeable loyalty of genuine, close friends. “All times” means precisely that: all times. These are good times and bad times, times when you are up and times when you are down, times when you are pleasant and times when you are unpleasant, times when you have an abundance to give and times when you have nothing to offer, times when you are well and times when you are ill. A friend loves you in all these times. He is loyal.
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