Lessons From Mephibosheth
The story of Mephibosheth intrigued me this morning. We meet him in 2 Samuel. He is a son of Jonathan, who fell lame due to an accident.
When he was five years old, his nurse was fleeing with him in fear after she heard that King Saul + Mephibosheths father, Jonathan were dead.
Scripture says, as they were fleeing, he fell and became lame (2 Sam 4:4).
I almost overlooked his story in my reading today, but as I kept reading, I realized the life of Mephibosheth is a beautiful image of the kindness + faithfulness of God.
And here is why:
For context, Jonathan was the son of Saul, the first evil king of Israel.
David, who is described in scripture as “a man after God’s own heart,” though he had his faults too, became king when Saul died, and was ruling the nations during this time.
In 2 Samuel 7, after lot’s of war and drama, we read that the Lord had given a season of rest to David from all his surrounding enemies.
And during this time, the Lord gives David a promise,
“your throne shall be established forever.”
After this encounter, David prays a prayer of gratitude to the Lord, and in one part of the prayer David says,
“O Lord God, for there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears,”
and in another part of the prayer, David says,
“And now, O Lord God, you are God and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant (2 Samuel 8:28).”
and in response to the kindness + promise of the Lord, David says, “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
Remember these words for later, as we take a glimpse into the life of Mephibosheth.
After this encounter between God + David, in chapter 9, David wants to show the Lord’s kindness to someone in the house of Saul and he asks a servant,
“Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?”
David also does this because back in 1 Samuel 20: 14-15, he made a covenant with Jonathan, when Jonathans asks David:
“but show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
David is on a mission to keep that covenant and is also motivated to show someone the same kindness that God has showed him.
David began searching for a survivor in the household of Saul with the intention of extending the same kindness that was shown to him. As he is searching, he finds a man named Ziba.
Ziba, was a servant of the house of Saul, and he tells David, “there is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.”
David asks Ziba to find him, and it turns out this son, although he was a royal by birth, was living in the house of Machir the son of Ariel, at Lo-debar. Some commentators say he was hiding out of fear David might kill him since technically he was in line to be the next king as a son of Jonathan, so technically, he is an enemy of David.
David seeks out Mephibosheth and when Mephibosheth meets David, he falls on his face and scripture says David call him by his name, “Mephibosheth!” and says,
“Do not fear, I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all of the land of Saul, and you all eat at my table always.”
Mephibosheth responds, “What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
And the chapter closes with Mephibosheth living in Jerusalem, and scripture says, “he ate always at the king’s table.”
We see another encounter between David + Mephibosheth later in the book of Samuel, when David is killing Saul’s 7 son’s, but chooses to spare Mephibosheths because of the oath of the Lord that was between them (2 Samuel 21:7).
Here is what I believe we can learn from the life of Mephibosheth:
There is no one like our God, His words are true, and He has promised us good things. But sometimes, life gets painful, and like Mephibosheth, during our pain, we may choose to turn away from Him and look for comfort + security in places we do not belong. But, like David who sought out Mephibosheth to show him kindness, our Father seeks us out.
As Children of God, we are promised a seat at the Lord’s table, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in.
Mephibosheth was not saved because of something he did or “worked for.”
He was saved because of who is Father was, and because of the Lord’s kindness.
We too, are saved, not because of something we have done, but because of who our Father is when we choose to obey the gospel and become adopted into His kingdom. We are heirs of God. He tells us so in Romans 8:14:
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Because we live in a sinful and broken world, being a child of God, does not protect us from suffering.
But the example of Mephibosheth is such a beautiful reminder of the Lord’s capacity + loyalty to keep His promises, despite our suffering.
The life of Mephibosheth shows that his suffering happened because he was brought into a sinful world. One where men were fighting over a throne that God did not even want in the first place. His nurse was feeling + they were running for their lives because Saul + Jonathan were dead, not because of something Mephibosheth had done.
This shows us that despite our birth right, because we live in a broken + fallen world, filled with evil + sinful people, we will all face suffering. Sometimes that suffering can be due to our own choices (this is in light of the principle of reaping what we sow found in Galatians 6:9), but sometimes suffering can simply occur because of the state of the world we have been brought into.
But if we allow it to be, suffering can be a reminder that this world is not our final home. It can be a reminder of the Lord’s kindness, and as children of God we can know that our suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that will one day be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).
We can take God at His word because over and over we see that He never changes. We see His word always proves true, so we can trust Him when He says we have the spirit interceding for us when we do not have words to express our pain: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Since we are children of God, adopted into His kingdom, we can confidently know, that no matter what happens, His will is being worked out for the good of those that love Him and who have been called according to his purposes (Romans 8: 28-29).”
We have to make the choice to accept the Lord’s kindness.
In the moment of falling to David’s feet in shame, and calling himself a “dead dog,”Mephibosheth had a choice:
Would he accept David’s kindness, or continue to live in isolation and fear?
Would he hold a grudge toward’s what happened to him and spin in anger + blame, or would he choose to let go and accept a new start + the good news being shared with him?
He chose trust + acceptance.
And I hope we do the same.
I hope we remember to trust in words like:
Romans 8: 31-39
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
And I hope we remember to have acceptance because we trust the truth written here:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Finally, the incredible kindness we have received, should motivate us to spread it to others. This is the motivation of the gospel, aka “good news.”
Receiving kindness from the Lord motivated David to show that same kindness to someone else. He could have just accepted it and sat in the comfort of his own home, but that kindness motivated him to seek someone out to extend the same same.
Does receiving the Lord’s kindness + “good news” motivate us do the same for us?