Mephibosheth

 

2 Samuel 4:4  "And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth."

Believe it or not, this one paragraph tells us a lot.  You see, at this time in history, it was common for a new king to slay the family of the former king to make sure no one challenged his authority.  In this case, Mephibosheth and his nurse were fleeing from David, the new king.  They thought he wanted to kill them, but King David had no such intention.  In fact, David wanted to bless him - not harm him.

The next time Mephibosheth is mentioned is in 2 Samuel 9.  This entire short chapter is about him.  In essence, King David wanted to show kindness to someone in Saul's family.  Saul was the previous King.  Upon inquiry, he learned of one of Saul's grandsons that was cripple in his feet, but alive.  So King David sent for him.  We pick up with verses 6-8 of that chapter.  This starts with Mephibosheth arriving before King David:

"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!"

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 land of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat at my table regularly."

 Again he prostrated himself and said, "What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?" (NASB)

There are countless lessons in this small and seemingly insignificant story for us.  I have highlighted a few of the ones that the Lord showed me.  

Lessons from the Story of Mephibosheth:

   The first point that God showed me was that the nurse that was in charge of protecting Mephibosheth actually did him a great disservice. It seems from Scripture that she was the fearful one--recall that Scripture says, "And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame."  So the first question has to be, 'was she really trying to protect herself and not him?'  I think we as Christians today can relate to this on many levels.  Sometimes those that we trust to take care of us and protect us end up hurting us instead.  Many times, their are keeping us from blessings and not harm - as was the case with Mephibosheth.

   Second, they were running from blessings and not from harm.  This has great implications for the lost as well as the saved in the world.  People that are lost in the world are running from the blessings of God, and then questioning and even blaming Him when things go wrong.  If you were Mephibosheth would you be asking God why he let you fall and get crippled?  Would you blame God?
   

   Many times in my own life, looking back, I can see where the bad points in my life happened when I was running from God and His blessings.  God has a path for us, and when we get of of that path there are thorns and briars and quicksand.  He allows these things around us so that we will stay on the path.  God wants fellowship with us, but we run.  We run from His blessings.  People blindly believe that giving their life to Jesus is a sacrifice and that they will have to give up so much of their fleshly desires--so they run.  But as any Christian will testify, the things given up pale by comparison to the blessings received. All things we "give up" are bad for us anyway.  More on that later.

   Mephibosheth came to King David and did not flee.  Even though Mephibosheth was afraid, he came when his king called.  And when he came, he humbled himself before the mighty King David.  This is all that God wants when He calls us.  He wants us to hear His voice and to answer.  In Revelation, Jesus says that Behold He is standing at the door and knocking.  He says that if anyone will answer, He will come into them and dine with them.  What an awesome thought, the God and Creator of the universe is knocking at our door and wants to fellowship with us.  WOW!

   When Mephibosheth came and humbled himself, the King promised to restore to him the possessions belonged to his family.  This is similar to the Lord restoring our lost fellowship with Him to us as well as our heavenly inheritance, when we humble ourselves and call on the Lord Jesus.

 There is another side to the Mephibosheth story that will be examined soon. Check back for part II.

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