Kindness, Grace, and Generosity (Part 5)

Here is the whole story from 2nd Samuel 9 – Read it and take it in.

¹ Then David said, “Is there yet 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.” ³The 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 and of your grandfather Saul; and you shall 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?”

⁹ Then the king called Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king’s table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet.

Now that you read it – ponder on these thoughts (some are mine and some are from a variety of other sources).

David’s grace to Mephibosheth is a wonderful picture of God’s grace to us.

1. The name “Mephibosheth” means shameful and he live as a shameful man – we too before God’s grace comes upon us are shameful men and women.

2. Mephibosheth was considered the king’s enemy – we too are enemies of God before His grace comes upon us.

3. Mephibosheth became lame through a fall (v. 3) – we too are lame and crippled because of the fall of Man.

4. And Mephibosheth was in a far country (v. 4) – before God’s grace comes to us we are living far from God in a foreign land.

5. Mephibosheth was called by the king (vv. 4-5) – When God’s grace comes upon us we are called by the King of Kings who is God.

6. David sought Mephibosheth — Mephibosheth did not seek David. God seeks us and we do not seek Him.

7. Mephibosheth came before the king in reverent submission (v. 6) – this too is how we need to come before God when he offers us Grace.

8. Mephibosheth was received in all his deformity – God does the same for us, he receives us just as we are.

9. Mephibosheth was received for the sake of his father (v. 7) – we receive the grace of God because of our heavenly Father.

10. When Mephibosheth came to David, he learned to have a proper estimate of himself (v. 8 ) – when God’s grace comes upon us we see a proper picture of who we are.

11. Mephibosheth was reconciled to the king by an act of the king’s own mercy (vv. 9-10) – we are reconciled to God because of the mercy of God.

12. And under the king’s table Mephibosheth’s crippled feet were covered – we too become whole people because of the grace of God that covers us.

What we need to recognize is that David’s grace to Mephibosheth is also a pattern for us in serving and ministering to others. This example of David is how we need to live, serve, and minister.

1. We should seek out our enemies and seek to bless them and not harm or humiliate them.

2. We should look for the poor, weak, lame, and hidden to bless them and show them the love of God – even if we get nothing in return.

3. We should bless others when they don’t deserve it and bless them with much more than they could ever want or need.

4. We should bless others for the sake of someone else – honor other by honoring their family.

5. We must show the kindness, generosity, and grace of God to others if we wish to be significant and make a difference in the world in which we live.

What is your gut level reaction to this story and what stands out to you in all this?

Kindness, Grace, and Generosity (Part 1)

What we need to understand is that acts of kindness, graciousness, and generosity to others need to be a priority for us and there is a beautiful picture of this in 2 Samuel 9. Here in this chapter we have another one of my favorite stories in the entire bible so let us take some time and look at David and an act of kindness, generosity, and graciousness that he performed.

2^nd Samuel 9:1 – Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?"

This goes back to a promise that was made between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:14,15 " 14 And may you treat me with the faithful love of the LORD as long as I live. But if I die, 15 treat my family with this faithful love, even when the LORD destroys all your enemies. David is following through on this promise that he had made with that Jonathan and now is searching to find out if there is any family of Jonathan left. God has been kind to David over the years and now he wants to pass the kindness on. I want you to notice that David was proactive in his kindness. Too often we wait till someone is hurting to do something nice for them. David just did something kind for the sake of being kind. David makes the choice to be kind or better yet gracious. David is going to be showing a great amount of grace to Jonathan’s family.

The question to ask is this: What can I do for other people? David was intentional in his kindness here, are you intentional in yours? What acts of kindness can I do for others? This is a question that we should be asking. Too many times we ask what is in it for me. I am reminded of the scene in the movie Field of Dreams, when Terrance Mann is asked to go out into the corn field with the baseball players. Ray Kinsella who took his land to build the field gets frustrated about this because he wanted to go and see what was out there and he says: I did it all. I listened to the voices, I did what they told me, and not once did I ask what’s in it for me. Shoeless Joe Jackson the lead baseball player responds: What are you saying, Ray? Ray then stops then says: I’m saying? What’s in it for me? You see the heart of the matter was he was trying to get something out of it. How often is this us, we make things look so good and do work saying it is not about us but then we get caught saying the same thing as Ray – what is in it for me.

Instead of asking what can I get out of this we need to have David’s perspective attitude and ask what can I do for others. When was the last time you did something for someone else and did not expect something in return? When was the last time you did something for someone that they just did not expect? That is what we are seeing from David here and that is what we should be doing.

Let us move forward: 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."

David searched out and found one servant of Saul’s who remained. David called him to him and asked who remained from Saul’s family of whom he could show the kindness of God too. The answer David got from Ziba is there is one left and it is one of Jonathan’s sons, the one who was crippled. Let us look back to 2 Samuel 4:4 to read about how he became crippled. Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. So we see that the nurse was in a hurry to get him out of the house. The reason was she heard that Saul and Jonathan were both dead and now they would want to kill all the descendants and Mephibosheth was one to be killed. In her hurry the boy fell and became lame. How he fell is unknown but he did and became crippled as a result.

The name Mephibosheth means, “shame”. He is a young man whose father and grandfather were killed when he was 5 which means he would be about 25 at this point when David is looking for him. As we have just seen he is crippled. He is in the economy of that time absolutely worthless because of his being crippled. He was an heir to the throne but it is not possible that he could never lead troops into battle. He could not even be a servant of anyone because of his disability. He later himself says he is worthless. He had such a promising future as a child but now he is just considered a worthless human being because of being crippled.

Do you ever feel spiritually crippled? Do you struggle with feeling worthless? Know and remind yourself of this fact next time you struggle with such feelings:  if you have place your faith and trust in Christ then you are a child of the King.  You are a son or a daughter of God and that is where your worth comes from.  Never think of yourself as worthless because you are God’s child. You are a worthwhile child of the King.

What is the coolest thing you ever surprised somebody with who just did not expect it?