2nd Samuel chapter 9.
Sorry everyone for these not being posted earlier. I thought it was posted but it wasn't. So sorry!!!!
Mephibosheth was lame in both feet and was the son of Jonathan who was David's best friend. Saul was his father. David wished to show kindness and asked if there was someone still left in the house of Saul. David contacted Ziba, a servant of Saul's household. Ziba spoke of Mephibosheth who was then brought before David who told Mephibosheth:
- That he would receive back all the land that was Saul's.
- That Ziba and his household would take care of all the land by farming it.
- That Mephibosheth would stay in Jerusalem and always eat at David's table as a son would.
What a surprise it must have been for Mephibosheth to be crippled for most or all his life to then all of a sudden get a call from the King. Mephibosheth was limited in his ability to perform in anything seemingly significant.
- He couldn't go to war as others did as a way to help defend his people.
- He had a son but no mention of a wife. It makes you wonder if he was unable to keep a wife.
- He certainly was perceived as insignificant by others because of not being NORMAL because of his lame feet.
- He even referred to himself to David as a dead dog.
- He couldn't understand how David would find favor in him.
Yet he ended up being treated as one of David's sons and was able to eat with the King always at his table.
David with Mephibosheth is a similar picture of God with us. God finds favor in each and every one of us and wishes to show his kindness to us. To be honest, I don't feel worthy of God's attention or God's love. Who am I that he would find favor in a dog like myself. But he loves me. He loves me enough that He sent Jesus to die for me. He wants me to join him at his banqueting table and to eat with him. Why? I feel insignificant! I see all my imperfections.
I want to understand God's love more. I mean, I hear about it all the time. I preach it all the time. But I want to understand it even more. I want to be able to grasp what is spoken in Ephesians 3:18 “how wide how long how high how deep is the love of Christ.”
If I could understand it more, then I feel it would transform my whole life: How I think about myself and how I think of others. I would understand how valuable I really am and could rise above oppositions so much easier. I would understand how close God really is to me when things aren't going well or as I planned. I would think of others more and would see them as more valuable and would desire strongly to reach outward to others because I would want them to come to know Jesus's great Love. My whole life would be transformed while impacting more lives.
With all of the killing, fighting and bloodshed that we have read about, it’s refreshing to read this chapter and see how David sets a good example by the way that he treats Mephibosheth with such kindness.
I’m reminded once again of Colossians 3:12-14.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
David showed compassion and grace to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son. Mephibosheth’s name in 1 Chronicles 8:35-38 is Merib-baal. OT names were often changed to reflect character or characteristics of the person. Mephibosheth means “shameful breath”. He may have had a breathing problem as well as crippled legs from the fall at age 5. I’m reminded that each time we show compassion, our character is strengthened.