“Is there anyone I can show kindness to today, Lord?”  Wow, what would happen if we prayed that pray honestly with a willing heart ready to jump into action? God readily answers a prayer like that with those who need an extra dose of encouragement! I have seen God do it through others and through me! If more compassion is needed to see and listen more intently and bolster our resolve to serve God by serving others, then prayer this prayer; “Lord, break my heart of those things that break yours.”  Praying these words will immediately change our life perspective of the world around us and open our eyes to see the real needs of our world.  Along with that prayer, God delivers the power, guidance, ability, and plan of wisdom to deliver help quickly to those who need it most at just the right time and in the right spirit—His Holy Spirit.  No need for a committee meeting to meet common needs of humanity.  God has it covered by making us His hands and feet!  Listen to His Holy Spirit who guides us to truth and God’s agenda for each new day.

David, a man after God’s own heart, has the Spirit of God in him. God guides David to remember his promise to his best friend for life—Jonathan, son of Saul.  “Is anyone left that I can show kindness for Jonatan’s sake?” David asks with intent and God delivers.  God then gives David a plan to fulfill that promise in a very practical way—take care of Jonathan’s crippled son for life.

2 Samuel 9

David and Mephibosheth

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

² 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.

³ 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.”

⁴ “Where is he?” the king asked.

Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

⁵ So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

⁶ 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.

⁷ “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.”

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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.)

¹¹ 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.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³ And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

People with challenging disabilities were thought to be unworthy, deemed outcasts of society, worthless, and even sinful in this particular biblical age. “You must have done something wrong to live with this marked disability” was the common thinking. For David to look past all of that to see only Johnathan’s son, who he loved demonstrates the glorious grace of our God to us because of Jesus sacrifice to all!  In fact, the story of David and Mephibosheth is a striking picture of salvation by grace. There is beauty that emerges in the intimate, loving relationship between God and David that demonstrates what can happen to one who truly inquires and listens to God often. It wonderfully shows how David was led to remember and follow through on his covenant with Jonathan—friends for life and now to his son.  This is a picture-perfect example of God’s compassion and love without conditions.

During the course of our lives, we will come across many people who have needs that we are able to meet. What will be our response? Don’t assume someone else will meet that need.

Pray, asking Gods’ Holy Spirit to prompt us daily. God will respond to us with someone who needs what God has given us to share and pass on.  This is what it means to join God in HIS work of love, mercy, and grace as we walk humbly with God always ready to respond, “At Your Service, Lord!” 

Our lifestyle will indeed reveal our life source.  Walking with God means living in harmony with God’s Spirit with a grateful heart and an expectant hope, saying; “What’s next, Papa?”  Wait, what now, you ask?  I’m glad you asked. One of my favorite ways to explain this harmony with God’s Holy Spirit is found in Romans 8:15-17. Read this scripture from Eugene Peterson’s, The Message, to fully understand this concept;

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’ God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us – an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” –Paul, to the church, Romans 8:15-17.

Need help?  Romans 12 gives us specific, practical ways to serve God by serving others. We have no excuse, really, to go, tell, share, and make disciples who go, tell, share and make other disciples who extend kindness, encouragement, grace, love, mercy, and generosity—in order to be more and more in every way like Christ!  This is church—a group of Christ followers who want to be like Him.

Paul continues….

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:29-39, MSG

Lord,

Thank you for this picture of your grace through David.  But the greatest of all is the unending, wonderfully amazing grace you poured out from the cross for each one of us. Thank for those who met my need and pointed me to you. Thank you for guiding me to those in need even today. Thank you for providing all we need to share with those in need physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Thank you for inviting us to your work of salvation for all! I’m your servant and I’m listening for what’s next, Abba!

In Jesus Name, Amen