Check out all the previous David readings here.
David Reading | Week 4 | Day 5
Prayer
As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that he came to save you!
Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 9
Read these verses three times slowly.
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“At your service,” he replied.
The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
“Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
Reflection & Questions
Today’s story is one of incredible grace and kindness shown by King David, and is a foreshadowing to the grace and kindness that God because of Jesus shows all who come to Him.
It was tradition in the nations of those days, that if a new king came to power, all the members of the previous king’s family were put to the sword. This was a way to ensure there would be no threat to the new king.
King David doesn’t follow this tradition. In fact, he goes the opposite direction. For the sake of Johnathan, he wants to show “God’s kindness” to members of the house of Saul. There was one descendant left, who was lame in both feet. Having a disability in those days was shameful, and he would have been hidden away. Mephibosheth was his name, and he lived in Lo Debar, which literally means “a place of no pasture.” It was a parched, dry, miserable place to live.
King David summons Mephibosheth and tells him “I will show you kindness” and “I will restore to you the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul” and “you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth is overwhelmed, replying, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” Incredibly, from that day forward, the grandson of the previous king (a clear enemy), who was lame, who lived in a place of no pasture, and considered himself a “dead dog”, lived like “one of the King’s sons.”
It doesn’t take much to see how much like Mephibosheth we are. We were enemies of God, ignoring and rebelling against him. We were lame in our sin, unable to save ourselves and hiding ourselves away, lest our shame be revealed. We had no pasture, no place of rest. No shepherd to guide us to streams of waters. We had no hope. We were like a dead dog. But God in his kindness, because of his son Jesus, saved us. He took us out of darkness into the light, and gave us a place at His table. Once we were enemies, now we are children of God!
- Picture yourself as Mephibosheth. Think about all the things that changed for you as King David invites you in and how that must have felt.
- How does this story awaken your imagination to what it means to become a child of God? Do you live in the reality of your new identity? Why or why not?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to the reading today.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
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Questions?
Ed Applegate
