In 2 Samuel, Chapter 9 we read about and unlikely kindness from a king to a little known diabled man. Most of us know the big stories about David. We know the story of Samuel anointing David as king while he was tending sheep. We know the story of David and Goliath and the stories of Saul and David. We know the story of the close friendship of David and Jonathan, who was the son of King Saul. We know the many psalms written by David while he was in hiding from enemies. But amid all of these headlines there is a quieter story that does not get attention, yet has powerful application to us all. It is the story of David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan, who was the son of King Saul. So Mephibosheth is the grandson of King Saul. Even though Saul considered David to be an enemy and wanted to kill him, Saul’s son Jonathan was always a friend of David. One time, Jonathan and David made a covenant before God that they would always love each other and be good to the family of the other in years to come (1 Sam 20:16).
Remembered
Both King Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle with the Philistines (2 Samuel 4:4). Mephibosheth was five years old at that time. His nurse took him and ran in panic. In her haste, the child fell, or was dropped and the boy became lame in both feet. David later became king and after assuming his throne, he asked his servants to locate anyone from Jonathan's family to show kindness. They located Mephibosheth. He was living in obscurity and poverty in a remote and barren corner of the kingdom. Once found, the crippled man was taken to the palace. When he was taken before David, Mephiboshet thought, “I’m going to be killed because Saul was my grandfather.” But instead King David said, “Don't be afraid, I intend to show you kindness because of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all your grandfather Saul's fields, and you will always eat meals at my table’ (2 Sam. 9:7).
David’s words were followed by acts of love for the sake of Jonathan. It was a demonstration of love toward a man who did not deserve it and could never earn it and would never be able to repay it. David, the strong and famous king, reached out to Mephibosheth, the cripple and the outcast, and expressed kindness. These words were an act of grace. This symbolic grace is compared to God’s love towards us because of Jesus Christ. We are all crippled physically, mentally and spiritually due to various reasons. But God’s grace promises that we will be remembered, rescued and restored.
Remembrance is an interesting thing. We remember things we don't want to remember, but forget the things we do want to remember. Bad things tend to stay in memory longer than good things. We tell over and over about our childhood to focus on what went wrong and difficult. We love to talk about how hard it was to walk several miles to the school or live without air conditioning or TV. I remember my finger getting caught in a door at the restaurant than the delicious dinner. We recount the time we got kicked off the plane due to over booking than the great vacation we had.
Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University says, “ almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail.” There are physiological as well as psychological reasons for this. Several years ago, New York Times wrote and article, By ALINA TUGEND MARCH 23, 2012 "Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall" (By Alina Tugent March 23, 2012). “The brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres,” said Professor Nass, who co-authored “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships” (Penguin 2010). Negative emotions generally involve more thinking, and the information is processed more thoroughly than positive ones, he said. Thus, we tend to ruminate more about unpleasant events — and use stronger words to describe them — than happy ones. “It’s in human nature, and there are even signs of it in animals, in experiments with rats. Bad emotions, bad parents and bad feedback have more impact than good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones.” We remember the bad things about OJ Simpson and Tiger Woods more than their achievements in sports.
Professor Baumeister and his colleagues note, losing money, being abandoned by friends and receiving criticism will have a greater impact than winning money, making friends or receiving praise. In an experiment in which participants gained or lost the same amount of money, for instance, the distress participants expressed over losing the money was greater than the joy that accompanied the gain. “Put another way, you are more upset about losing $50 than you are happy about gaining $50,” the paper states. In addition, bad events wear off more slowly than good ones.And Professor Nass offered another interesting point: we tend to see people who say negative things as smarter than those who are positive. Thus, we are more likely to give greater weight to critical reviews. “If I tell you that you are going to give a lecture before smarter people, you will say more negative things,” he said. There is an upside, however. Just knowing this may help us better deal with the bad stuff that will inevitably happen. Fortunately, we’ve had many more pleasant experiences than unhappy ones. Thats why we exist.
Mephibosheth is remembered as the crippled child of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul. In fact the servants told David, just that. The world remembers him as a crippled man. But David remembered him for a different reason. He remembered him for the sake of his love for Jonathan. When God remembers us, He does not think about our sins, He thinks about Jesus; God remembers us not like the world does. God remembers us with His grace. Even while we had a name as “sinners”, He remembered us in Jesus. God remembers you with a name in Jesus Christ. We are children of God. "Whosoever believes in Jesus is a child of God". God remembers good things about you. God is good and He is good all the time. "All good gifts come from God and His goodness doesn't change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17). God always wants his children to have good things. When things go bad, He remembers Jesus who has taken the shame on behalf of you. People may forget, or remember only bad things, our Heavenly Father remembers you and me as dear and lovely children. Psalm 103: “ 4 God redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion" “ 5 He satisfies your desires with good things. 13 As father has compassion for children, the Lord has compassion to those who fear Him”
Rescued
2 Sam 9:4 says that Mephiboshet was found in a place called “Lodebar”, which means ‘nothing’. Mephiboshet found himself crippled and living in fear and in obscurity and poverty in a remote and barren corner of the kingdom. He wanted to be unknown and unrecognized because of his background. He thought he would be killed by David. King David’s men found him at a miserable place and poor condition. He was rescued from the nothing of Lodebar to the palace in Jerusalem. God’s prevenient grace will go beyond any place where we think we can hide. It follows us until we are restored. God’s love reaches to the deepest valley of our life and will lift us up. David sings in Psalm 40:2 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
The Hebrew word Mefivoshet, means "from the mouth of shame". (Mephibosheth - 1 Chr 9:39 - Shameful.) We don’t know why they gave him such a name. We all get names that sometimes stick. He was also shameful by circumstances of Saul’s disgrace. So it may seem that his name Mephibosheth - Shameful - is justifiable. Lately, we see name calling has become a pattern in our national and political arena. They are mostly negative terms like "crooked", "loser", "liar" and others. We may find excuses to justify such name calling. We don't hear uplifting names a lot like ‘honest, encouraging, gracious’. David sought after the lost Mephiboshet, and rescued from his shame.
Mephiboshet was crippled when he was five years old. The very nurse who was his care taker dropped him. (2 Samuel 4). When the news came to the nurse that Jonathan and King Saul were overtaken and killed, great fear rose up in her. We may be crippled in our life is being held back from your ability to move forward. You may even be surrounded by people who are supposed to be your caretakers, have proven to be fearful and inept. People are prone to fail. Human efforts to save you from the enemy of evil are all going to fail because they can fall and cause more harm. We are all crippled by sin. Only God can rescue from our sinful nature. Any human efforts or works are fruitless attempts. In Isa 64:6, we read: "our righteous deeds are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind." We are all sinners and have a past that we may not like to remember. “None is righteous, no, not one Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". (Romans 3:10). We don’t have to live in our past. We don’t have to live with the label. We don’t have to live a life that is powerless in the face of temptation and sin. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23). We are chosen for something more. a greater purpose.
Restored
Mephibosheth was named shameful by his parents, crippled by someone’s fall, lived in Lodebar in fear as an outcast. But God’s plan for him was different. His position was restored, privileges and property restored. He now lives in Jerusalem, and lives in the palace and eats at the king's table. God is in the business of restoration. He remembers, rescues and then restores and makes us whole because of Jesus Christ.
God had raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6). He gave him a new identity and a new position. There are many like Mephibosheth, with broken hearts, with damaged emotions, a few with crushed spirits, many with wounded bodies, others with shattered souls, and a lot with physical needs. God loves them and restores them. "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice." (Isaiah 42:3).
A small church in a rural town decided to conduct an Easter service at the local prison. The Easter service in the Prison chapel was enjoyed by all. Many family members of the inmates and the local church members who organized the event arrived through the front door of the prison to a lobby while the prisoners were brought in through another door. They all assembled in the lobby and then together they processed into the worship hall singing “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow / Because He lives, all fear is gone / Because I know He holds the future / And life is worth the living / Just because He lives.”. There was no difference between prisoner or church member, guilty or or not, they were all marching with singing towards the cross decorated with white flowers in front of the sanctuary. They sang loudly with joy as one people united by the love of God. Everyone, from the tiniest baby to the oldest grandfather were clothed in white. There were songs, prayers and praises along with tears of joy and celebration. After the service the church people and the boys and girls and their moms filed out in high spirits out to the main door. The dads left by another door to return to their prison cells. Even though some church people were quite hostile toward the prisoners before, because of the wrong they have done to the community, there were hugs and tears and joy flowed after the service,. Through Christ, we know that we all have been forgiven, and we want to extend that love and acceptance to others. It is good to know that God counts everyone worthy to become His child in spite of his/her past.
Some may have disregarded Mephibosheth because he was lame, or because he was from Saul’s household. In God’s eyes, every person is important. He sent His only Son to die for us. May we remember with gratitude how much He values each human life. Remember we are special for God. He made us out of nothing, rescued us from our conditions, restored us in heaven with Jesus Christ. May God help us to show the same kindness and mercy to others.
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