Growing up in England, we were required to study English Literature in high school. One of my favorite poets was Samuel Taylor Coleridge, best known for such classic poems as “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In a reflection on his life and the strength of his earlier years called “Youth and Age,” Coleridge wrote that “friendship is a sheltering tree.”
One of the greatest gifts one can give another is the understanding and peace of camaraderie, especially when sealed by a covenant of commitment. To have someone to whom we can turn at any time and know that that person will not scoff at our dreams or betray our confidence is a precious thing. To lean on someone when the going gets rough and tensions run high is a wonderful thing. When the searing rays of adversity burn their way into our lives, to find the relief of cool shade under the sheltering tree of true friendship is an indescribable privilege.
The massive trunk of such a sheltering tree brings comfort and breeds security. Its large leaves of love cover us from the heat of shame and are like a handkerchief that wipes beads of worry from our brow. Beneath its branches many discouraged souls have found repose.
Souls such as the prophet Elijah, who, after his showdown on Mount Carmel with the Baal priests, was threatened by Jezebel and became depressed. He was ready to quit his prophetic ministry. But God refused to accept his resignation and gave him what he really needed—food provided by an angel and rest under the cooling shade of a broom tree. However, it was the friendship of the youthful Elisha that was his lasting sheltering tree. Elisha became a true companion who followed Elijah everywhere and ministered to him (1 Kings 19:21).
David, admired as a man after God’s heart, was haunted and hunted by jealous King Saul, whose single objective was to see him dead. But between Saul and David stood a sheltering tree named Jonathan, who neither shook nor shed in that precarious position. No matter how hard Saul tried, he couldn’t cut down that covenant friendship. Although young as a sapling, Jonathan was as loyal and dependable as an old oak. He assured David: “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you” (1 Sam. 20:4). No conditions. No limits. No bargains. No reservations! Jonathan even “went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God” (1 Sam. 23:16). What an incredible sheltering tree!
The apostle Paul had sheltering trees that sustained him throughout his converted life. There was Barnabas, who stood by him when everyone else stayed away; Silas, his traveling companion over many otherwise lonely miles; Dr. Luke and Timothy, Onesiphorus and Epaphroditus, Aquila and Priscilla, Phoebe, and all the saints Paul greeted in Romans 16, were a veritable forest of sheltering trees for Paul.
But no one is a greater sheltering tree than Jesus. In fact, no one cares for us like Jesus. He’s the friend who is closer than a brother or sister; He’s the one who said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). From the beginning of time until today, there has been no greater sheltering tree.
Yet He also needed and enjoyed the sheltering friendship of others, such as Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, whose story we find in John 11. Jesus was often refreshed beneath their branches in a modest home in Bethany. He was lavishly fed with the fruits of their affection and fellowship. And because Jesus was committed to the basic principles of friendship, John was able to report that He loved—and kept on loving—this noble family.
It’s true: there’s no other friend like Jesus. He stands tall, like a California redwood, above all other sheltering trees. So true is He that in a world suffering from disaster fatigue, acrimonious politics, and global economic decline, we can still know and sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear; what a privilege to carry everything to Him in prayer.”
We know that Jesus is our friend. But can He say with confidence that we are His?
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Hyveth Williams is a professor of homiletics at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan. This article was published October 20, 2011.
