2 Samuel 9
David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth
1 Then David said, “Is there yet [a]anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” 4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” 7 David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the [b]land of your [c]grandfather Saul; and you shall [d]eat at my table regularly.” 8 Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”
This section of scripture has so many awesome things to say to us. I was thinking about how Mephibosheth became crippled. If you remember, the Handmade fearing for their lives, fled the house she was in, carrying the 5 year old Mephibosheth when she dropped him. The result of the fall was that he was crippled all of his life. That is true about all of us too. We are all crippled because of a fall. The fall of Adam. All of of grew up affected by original sin. We were born without the indwelling presence of God and with fallen flesh that has a Law of Sin deeply imbedded in it. Our need for Christ wasn’t just because of Adam’s sin, but because of our own sin which flows very naturally from our flesh. The result of Adam’s Fall is that we are all born crippled spiritually, morally, emotionally, and intellectually. The lie of the enemy that keeps us in bondage is that we are messed up because of the behavior of others around us. Others, and culture, and circumstances can sure contribute toward our levels of brokeness, but our crippled condition is the result of the Fall’s affect on us. If it weren’t for our crippled flesh, we would have responded differently to all those people and situations that caused us such pain. The truth is, it’s our unholy responses to those things and those people that cause such destruction in our lives. Those unholy responses come out of our Fallenness. Jesus didn’t become bitter at the cross because He said in John 14 that Satan had no part in Him. 1 Peter says that when mistreated, He just kept entrusting Himself to God. Unfortunately, that’s not how we have always responded. We have often, since birth, responded out of the brokeness we were all born with. The people who hurt us may have done terrible things to us, and will be held responsible for their actions, but we have to own our sinfull reactions, even if they were fairly unconscious ones. They are still a result of our Falleness. Bitterness is sin, unforgiveness and resentment is sin. Fear is sin. I should know, I made an art form out of it. Self hatred is sin, etc.,etc.,etc. If some situation has destroyed your life, it’s not the situations fault no matter how painfull, it’s your Fallen response to this situation. We will have pain, and it’s not fun, but pain doesn’t destroy unless we choose to allow it to. Mephibosheth’s caregiver mishandled him, but it’s the Fall that crippled him. Many of you were mishandled by the caregivers entrusted to take care of you. This would include parents, or any other person given the responsibility to nurture and protect you. The problem is, if you spend your life blaming things, or others for your mess, you will never get free. You have to own your stuff and your Falleness if you are to ever fulfill your destiny in God. Well, I’ll tell you how to put all that regret and bitterness behind you tomorrow. Ill tell you how 34 years ago in a miraculous moment the Lord set me free from all resentment, bitterness and regret. Have a great day today In Christ, knowing that He Wins. HE ALWAYS WINS.