Paul loves Timothy and always prays for him. How much do we pray for our loved ones? How much do we pray for our friends? What joy to know someone is praying for you. Knowing someone who has your interest at heart and goes to the throne of grace on your behalf is a great encouragement.
Let’s turn this around. If you tell someone you’ll pray for them, do you? What a terrible lie, to tell someone they are in your prayers, and you have yet to pray for them. What deception to say, “I’ll pray” and forget about it and move on. The hypocrites love to be heard of me, and to let people know they will pray, and probably have a prayer list 5 pages long. Paul prayed night and day for Timothy, and you could take that to the bank.
Paul wanted to see Timothy again and likely remembered when they last saw each other and left, and what a tearful parting it was. The degree of sadness when they parted would be matched by the degree of joy at seeing each other again. What a friendship! If you have such a friend, treasure them and protect that friendship, because they are certainly a rare thing in this world. Paul had fair-weather friends who left him when things got tough, but Timothy was a true friend. Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Paul is about to get after Timothy a little bit, and to light a fire under him, but because they are friends, Timothy is not going to pout and get angry, because he also knows Proverbs 27:6, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Timothy's tears were genuine because his love for his friend was genuine.
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