Choose Your Friends Carefully

I’m so glad you’ve decided to take part in this study! The book of Psalms has such meaning for me personally. God has used it to bring me tremendous comfort, peace, and strength just when I’ve needed it. Best of all, it has helped me to better understand who He is on a deeper level. It helps us know His character, teaches us how to worship Him, instructs us in wisdom, encourages us, and offers practical advice for our everyday life.

Psalms shows us that we can be completely honest with God about how we feel, because we see the psalm writers pouring out their hearts to Him in its pages—whether they felt joyful, confident, hopeful, angry, frightened, discouraged, lonely, or depressed. As they did, they received His comfort and strength to make it through difficult situations, and so can we.

The book of Psalms also offers us practical wisdom so we can enjoy the good plan He has for our lives. For instance, in Psalms Chapter 1, God instructs us to avoid hanging around people who aren’t godly. The company we keep is important because we tend to take on the traits of those with whom we spend a lot of time. Choose to spend time with people who will make you a better person, not with those who tempt you to lower your standards or compromise your morals.

Ask God to arrange divine connections for you, so you will continually be influenced by the very best of people. Don’t choose your friends based merely on a desire to be in the most popular social group or because you think they can help you climb the ladder of success. Choose people with proven godly character.

Getting to know people takes time, and we need to see them in all kinds of situations and watch how they respond. How do they treat other people—especially those they might consider to be “unimportant”? Everyone is equally important to God, and each person should be important to us also.