Grace – overwhelming attribute of our beloved Lord. 2 Sam 9.

David had power to destroy any of Saul’s relatives.(v1) However, he longed to show kindness for Jonathan’s sake. Kindness is favour, such as lifting a down-trodden person. , by showing mercy and . Loving-kindness.

Saul had a servant, who had faithfully honoured Jonathan, the prince and David’s bosom friend.(v2)

‘ I am at your service, Sir’ was his response. Are we so available for our God?

The king replied, ‘I will show the kindness of God to any survivor in the house of Saul. Jonathan had a son who was lame on his feet.(v3) That is, his legs were withered or wasted. He had fallen from his nurse’s arms at five years when news of the death of Jonathan and Saul broke on Jerusalem. Had he suffered severe fractures or spinal injury?. He had fallen. We too lost the security of our Father’s embrace when we fell as Adam and Eve rebelled against our God. We became lame ( decayed or withered ) following the Fall. Christ’s life, death and resurrection undid all the effects of that fall.

‘Where was this survivor, Ziba?’(v 4) ‘He lived at Machir, the place of slavery; he was the son of Ammiel, a kinsman of Jehovah related to his perfect origin before the first fall; he was in Lodebar, the famine centre,where the pastures had failed. His condition was hopeless. He lacked freedom, although of royal descent, yet suffered hunger pangs. But God planned release and plenty for him.

The King brought out, or reserved for blessing, this cripple. God’s Word defined his background of Machir, Ammiel, and Lodebar, repeating the essential features of his need. He wanted us to understand how lamentable was the state of this dear man. It reminded us of our lost state.

Mephibosheth, by name, son of beloved Jonathan and grandson of the villainous Saul, fell prostrate at David’s feet. How clumsy and bungling he was, sprawling on the floor. He may have expected David to slay him. . Until David called him by name. ‘Mephibosheth’! So tenderly, compassionately, and comfortingly. ‘I am your slave’ he responded. Twenty years had passed since his tragic fall in the temple – but God had reserved great plans for him. Even so He designed such blessing for us.(v6)

David quietened him,’ Fear not’. ‘I will surely show you kindness ( chesed in the original language ) for Jonathan, your father’s sake.’ So for us, God’s Son has shown such loving-kindness in dying in our place. More followed when David promised that ‘ he would restore all the land of Saul your grand-father’, just as our Lord had given us our rich inheritance in Him. Mephibosheth was amazed to hear that the famine was over and that he would eat bread at the King’s festive board continually.’ Our understanding of ‘grace’ deepened, for this was exactly what our Lord provided for us.(v7)

Mephibosheth threw himself before David, asking ‘What is your servant that you should look on such a dead dog as I am’. Dead animals were thrown out into the street for jackals to ravage. . His self-esteem had frittered away, but King David restored his self-recognition. ( v8) ‘He restores my soul’. Have you allowed your Sovereign to show you how Heaven highly valued you.?

David confirmed Mephibosheth in the palace life. ‘ All that you lost in the death of your father and grandfather and in your devastating fall, has been restored.’ (v9) It is now all your’s, by royal decree. For the believer, ‘all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him’. Christ has reinstated us

Ziba had 15 sons and 20 slaves, who were commissioned to till the land ,which had been neglected and so unproductive ) and to harvest it for the crippled Prince. David reminded them that Jonathan’s son would eat bread at the king’s table perpetually. God’s eternal provision for us was seen in this marvellous promise. ‘You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies’, David assured us.

Ziba repeated the marvellous provision David had given to the long-neglected, incapacitated Prince.

Micha, (Who is like Jehovah) as the beautifully-formed son of Mephibosheth, and promise of resurrection perfection for the disabled father, would also receive all the blessing and royal favour shown to his father. Grace was multiplied at the Lord’s hands. Another generation received the loving-kindness of the King, for He perpetually enriched family life, as ‘to your children’s children.’ All of Ziba’s extended family ministered to the young Prince and the babe ( v12).

Mephibosheth means ‘my shame is taken away’. precisely why the dear Son of God died for us.

Grace is ‘God’s divine influence on the heart, so that it reflects in our lives.’

Grace is ‘God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. His loving-kindness, favour, mercy.