I just recently bought a CD called Sounds of Melodies by Leeland. As I was listening to the last song, Carried to the Table. I’m not sure that it has to do with what I was reminded of, but my mind was drawn to 2 Samuel 9 with the story of Mephibosheth:
Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" 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." 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." 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." Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 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?" 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. "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. 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. Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king's table regularly Now he was lame in both feet.
Back in July, on one of the hottest day of the year, I took two ladies from work to see Washington DC. They were in from England to train my team in a new project, and I thought it would be nice to show them around the city.
The one thing that they wanted to see was the White House. First, we went to a few different monuments and made our way to the White House. When we arrived, we apparently just made it in enough time to see people being kicked out of the viewing area. When we approached the officer, he told us that they were having a dinner party on the lawn and they wouldn’t allow people in the vicinity until the party was over. That didn’t happen until after we left.
An obvious fact is, I will probably never get to dine with any of the Presidents of the United States. There’s really no reason for him to invite me. I’m not a political guru, and I really don’t have anything to offer that the President would feel inclined to invite me. People who are invited are invited because they have a good reason to be there, whether that is because they are family or an important political figure.
Imagine, if you will, King David not only inviting someone who doesn’t have anything to offer, but someone who is the descendant of the previous king who attempted, on several occasions, to kill him. David had no reason to invite Mephibosheth, the lame descendant of an enemy, to dine with him, much less sit at his table on a regular basis just like he was family.
I was meditating on that in relationship to our standing with the Lord. He had no reason to choose us. We were children of death. We hated God. We were worse than crippled, we were dead in our trespasses. Until He loved us, we hated Him. We had nothing to offer. We, being foolish creatures apart from what He has given to us, have no wisdom that we can advise or counsel God, the Creator of all things, in any way at all.
Isaiah 40:12-15-Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Yet, out of His kindness and mercy he has called us out and has chosen us to be part of the Church, the bride of Christ. We were not just merely descendants of an enemy of the King, we were enemies ourselves. Our hearts, minds and wills were bent against the Lord. Let Mephibosheth be a humbling reminder of the grace shown to us by the King, Lord of Hosts, Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe.
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