Recovery Devotional 321 Unfailing, Unsought, Unlimited Mercy!

JMD Devotional 321 2 Samuel 9:1-11 Unfailing, Unsought, Unlimited Mercy!

AND DAVID said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? And of the house of Saul there was a servant whose name was Ziba. When they had called him to David, he said to him, Are you Ziba? He said, I, your servant, am he.

The king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the [unfailing, unsought, unlimited] mercy and kindness of God? Ziba replied, Jonathan has yet a son who is lame in his feet. And the king said, Where is he? Ziba replied, He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar. And Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, Mephibosheth! And he answered, Behold your servant! David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father [grandfather], and you shall eat at my table always. And [the cripple] bowed himself and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?

The lameness of some is readily apparent to all. Wheel chairs, ramps, lifts, handicapped toilets make it clear that our population has people who cannot walk. An enlightened society does its best to respect the dignity of the disadvantaged, to protect their ego. But in the spiritual dimension, we all are lame in some way. None of us can walk upright before a Holy God. We need charity, a helping hand, the mercy of others. The psychology of human nature is wired to deny this reality; and to protect our own ego; we deceive ourselves and others pretending to be whole. But for a few blessed individuals, God breaks through the façade and makes us come to grips with our spiritual immobility. I have cried out to God in anguish just like Mephibosheth, “I am a dead dog, Lord!”

9-11 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I have given your master's son [grandson] all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. And you shall till the land for him, you, your sons, and your servants, and you shall bring in the produce, that your master's heir may have food to eat; but Mephibosheth, your master's son [grandson], shall eat always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then Ziba said to the king, Your servant will do according to all my lord the king commands. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons.

In order to receive true life you have to give up the false ‘life’ and consider it dead (to see it as God sees it). We have nothing to give God but our retched, needy selves. But our Heavenly Father receives us as sons and daughters, as princes of His Kingdom, we become royalty! Is a little dignity and pride too much to give up to receive eternal blessedness?

Dear God,

I am astounded and all so grateful for Your unfailing, unsought and unlimited mercy! As good as King David was to Jonathan’s son, Your mercy surpasses that of any man: no one can out grace You! It was so hard to face the reality of my own miserable estate, my helplessness and my depravity; I hid from You, ashamed that I needed so much and had nothing to give but the wreck of my life. Good and holy and merciful is the Lord God Almighty! You sought me out, and brought me into Your presence and pronounced healing and eternal blessedness upon this man. You are worthy of all praise. My life is Your’s. May my expressions of thanks and gratitude carry into all eternity.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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