Readings for the day: 2 Samuel 8, 9 and 1 Chronicles 18
There’s a famous story told about John Knox, the founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland. He had a nightmare as he lay dying. When he awoke, he told all his friends that he had just been tempted to believe he had earned heaven and God’s grace through the faithfulness of his life and ministry. But he quickly followed that up with these words, “Blessed be God who enabled me to bead down and quench the fiery dart, by suggesting to me such passages of Scripture as these; “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? ‘By the grace of God I am what I am’. ‘Not I but the grace of God which was with me’.
It is so easy to think we deserve God’s grace. It’s so easy to believe we’ve done enough. We’re good enough. We’re strong enough. We’ve worked hard enough. Yes, most of know the dictionary definition of grace - “unmerited favor” - but if we’re honest, deep down we like to think we deserve it. Don’t believe me? Think about how much we take God for granted? How little we value our time with Him? How easy it is for us to prioritize other things rather than keep God first? Think about our attitudes towards worship? Towards obedience? We like to act as if God is grading on a curve! We are so flippant about grace.
Today, however, we come face to face with grace in the story of David and Mephibosheth. David is now king. He has the nation firmly united behind him. He is winning battle after battle. Expanding their territory. Gaining tribute. Philistines. Moabites. Syrians. Edomites. All fall before him. Most kings, in their efforts to consolidate power, would seek out the last surviving members of the former royal family and have them put to death. Not David. David remembers his covenant with Jonathan. David remembers his promise to Saul. He seeks out the last surviving members of Saul’s family in order to honor them. Bless them.
Enter Mephibosheth. Crippled. Weak. Broken. Living in abject poverty - Lo-debar literally means “no pasture” - where he has fled to hide. For years, he has eked out an existence hoping to escape the notice of the new king. Knowing what would likely happen should he be found out. But now he’s been betrayed. His location is known. The king’s soldiers show up to bring him before David. One can imagine his fear. One can imagine all the nightmare scenarios running through his head. He comes before David and bows his face to the floor at his feet. He begs for mercy though he knows he doesn’t deserve it. And what’s David’s response? Grace.
Friends, we are Mephibosheth. We are crippled. Weak. Broken. We too live in abject spiritual poverty. We too have fled to hide from the King. Many of us have lived this way for years. Putting our heads down and barely eking out an existence. Enslaved to our sin, we tried as best we could to escape God’s notice. But the Holy Spirit sees all and knows all. He found us out! He sought us out! He brought us before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Perhaps you remember the day that happened? The first day you actually humbled yourself before Jesus? I remember my fear as the weight of my sin hit me for the first time. I remember the sense of impending judgment hanging over my head. I remember how unworthy I felt before the Holy One of Israel. I remember asking God for mercy as I prayed the “sinner’s prayer.” And what I remember most of all is that feeling the first time grace washed over me.
Grace has nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with what I’ve done. Nothing to do with how good I am. It has everything to do with God. By showering us with grace, God is being faithful to Himself. Faithful to the covenant promises He has made. Grace takes the wounded, crippled, and broken and sets a place for them at God’s table. Grace seeks out the spiritually disabled, those lost and wandering in darkness, enslaved to sin, dead in their trespasses and presents them before God. Grace goes to the most barren places, rescues the spiritually poor, and brings them to a place of plenty, where we are fed with the richest of fare. Most of all, grace takes those orphaned by sin and adopts them into God’s own family!
Now here’s what we most often miss about grace. It doesn’t take away our brokenness. Mephibosheth remained crippled for the rest of his life. In the same way, we too remain crippled by our sinful nature. Why does God allow this? Again, the answer is grace. As Mephibosheth limped around the palace, leaning on his crutches, he was reminded over and over again of the amazing grace of the king. As you and I continue our struggle with sin. Tempted. Afflicted. Oppressed. We are being reminded over and over again of the amazing grace of our own King. That takes a wretch like me. Once lost. Now found. Once blind but now can see.