There's a place for you at the table

So this actually isn’t what I was going to write about today, but I was going through some old journals and sermon notes and I came across a page that just said;

2 Samuel 9:3-5 – Blessing someone can turn bitter things, into beautiful things.

That caught my attention. Now, granted it probably was the start of a Rich Wilkerson Jr podcast that I forgot to finish, since it’s not exactly common for me to willingly read an Old Testament story much less like, understand it. So I decided to go back and actually read 2 Samuel 9.

Here’s what it says:

 David asked, "Is there anyone remaining from Saul's family I can show kindness to because of Jonathan?" There was a servant of Saul's family named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" "[I am] your servant," he replied.  So the king asked, "Is there anyone left of Saul's family I can show the kindness of God to?" Ziba said to the king, "There is still Jonathan's son who is lame in both feet."  The king asked him, "Where is he?" Ziba answered the king, "You'll find him in Lo-debar at the house of Machir son of Ammiel." So King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.  Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, bowed down to the ground and paid homage. David said, "Mephibosheth!" "I am your servant," he replied.  "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "since 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." Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?" (2 Samuel 9:1-9 HCSB)

Okay so here it says that Mephibosheth was lame in both feet, but it never tells you what happened to him to make him lame in both feet. So like any super holy, well rounded, bible knowledge seeker does, I googled it.

“2 Samuel 4:4- Saul's son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth .  

Thanks google.

So here is what we know about Mephibosheth:

-He was destined to be King, but because someone else messed up, he lost that destiny.
-He literally lives in a land that name means “Pasture-less”, “Dead Land”, “Dried Up”, “Discontent”

-He was crippled in both feet, because someone else failed him.

I think the coolest part of this story is David’s response to Mephy by saying he always has a place at his table, and by bringing him out of Lo-Debar and restoring to him all he had lost what David is actually saying is “What they did TO you has nothing to do with what I want to do FOR you.” So many times in our lives we blame the short-falls of others in our lives for not fulfilling our calling. But we have a King who doesn’t even acknowledge what’s been done to us, all He says is “Go get them, and bring them to me. They have a place in my palace and my kingdom, always”.

This story was probably a good one for me to read as far as Old Testament goes because 1. It doesn’t involve poop coming out of anyone’s belly button and 2. It is the Gospel personified.