Here, the Hebrew author tells us that because of Abraham’s faith, God was not ashamed to be called His God. This is not so with all men. In Genesis 6, we see that God was grieved about mankind, and wanted to destroy it because of its wickedness. God was not proud of His creation then. He was embarassed by it. That He would be known as the Creator of such beings. They did not represent Him well. But Abraham was different. He followed God and trusted Him. If we follow Abraham’s example, God will also be proud of us as His servants, gladly calling us His own.

It is also helpful to realize that Abraham was not perfect. He out and out lied twice in the scriptures, and that does not capture the full extent of His life. All in all, Abraham was a man like us. He had fear and sometimes His trust in the Lord was not strong enough to avoid temptation. Yet this did not make God ashamed of him. God was not particularly happy about these specific instances, but He lauds Abraham in His scriptures over and over again, and here calls him friend.

Finally, when we see that God is not ashamed to be called our friend, we should be even more emphatic in saying, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” (Romans 1:16) If God is not ashamed of us, who are we to be ashamed of Him? He accepts us, faults and all, if we come to Him in trust and dedication. How can we then turn around and deny Him? We should proudly call the Lord our Friend.