a cripple at Your table

October 12, 2010

So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. ... And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table, and he was crippled in both feet. (2 Samuel 9:11,13)

I love these verses and the scene of grace it portrays to us readers. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan the son of Saul. While Jonathan was David's best friend, Saul could be seen as the political enemy of David. It was because of Saul that David was kept on the run for his life for many many years.

I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table. (2 Samuel 9:7)

Mephibosheth had done nothing to merit this grace of David's; he is the grandson of David's political enemy, and yet, David not only restores to him all the land that had belonged to his grandfather Saul, but also allows him to eat at his table for the rest of his life, just like one of the king's sons, and all this simply because David wanted to show kindness to Jonathan's descendants for the sake of Jonathan (2 Samuel 9:7). Under normal circumstances, when a new king takes over, one who is not of the family of the previous king, it is almost expected that the new king would exterminate the previous king's family, so that none may contend for the throne, and that the new king's power would be firmly established. Mephibosheth most likely expected death when he was called before the king; but instead of receiving a sentence of death like he expected, he was extended grace far beyond what he could have imagined as the grandson of the political enemy of the current king. I like that the verses also mention that Mephibosheth is crippled; he became crippled at the age of 5 when his nurse accidentally dropped him when she had picked him up to flee when they heard the news of the death of Saul and his sons. A cripple at the king's table- it's a beautiful picture of grace.

I read/listened to Chuck Swindoll's book/sermons on David before and he relates this story to our own story of God's grace. We also have done nothing to deserve God's grace. Rather, we've rejected God and sinned and fallen in our depravity. Yet while we were still enemies of God (Romans 5:10), God was willing to restore our relationship with Him through the blood of His son. God was satisfied to look on Jesus and pardon us our sins and transgressions against him. We've done nothing to merit God's grace, and yet God extends his grace to us simply because of what Jesus has done for us in dying on the cross for our sins. We too, crippled by our sins, have been invited to the King's table, not on any basis of our own good works or good life, but simply because God wants to show us kindness and grace for the sake of Jesus Christ. We've been adopted into God's family, treated as God's sons, because Jesus paid the price for us, and now we too can experience the blessings of being in God's kingdom and family. This indeed paints for us a beautiful picture of grace- that God, the Almighty, the Most High King would extend to us His grace and an invitation to us crippled, imperfect, enemies of God to come dine at His table and be called His sons and daughters; that we have received the Spirit of sonship, and by him, can call God our Father, for we have been adopted into His royal family (Romans 8:15).

While it is true that we tend to cheapen grace by forgetting how costly it was to extend such grace to us, I think we also at times forget how amazing this grace that has been extended to us really is and we don't delight in it nearly enough. That we crippled sinners, enemies of God have been invited to His table, when all we really deserved from our actions and lives is death, is truly nothing short of amazing and awesome. So often, we know that we have been extended this grace in our heads, and yet sometimes, we do not act on this grace enough. Would it not be ridiculous for Mephibosheth to have been allowed to dine at the King's table, but never do it, and insist on eating at home? No matter how rich Mephibosheth could have been, it still can't be compared to eating at the King's table.

And yet, we so often do just that. We have been given the grace and privilege of coming before God as sons and daughters; we've been given the privilege to come into His presence and have His life and word within us, no longer needing priests to intercede for us or animal sacrifices to be counted as even had remotely paid the punishment of our sins, and yet we like to stay outside His kingdom, His presence, satisfied with having taken the invitation, but not quite acting upon it. We occasionally pray, read a chapter or two of the Bible a day or every other day, and we are satisfied and content, when we are offered all the riches and blessings and treasures that God has to offer if we'd only let ourselves sit in His presence and dwell in his word with maybe half the enthusiasm and time we give to sport shows, games, or hanging out with friends. We are quite silly and ridiculous for having been invited to dine at the King's table, yet satisfied with the meager portions we take for ourselves from Him. I pray God would continually open all our eyes to the infinite treasures, blessings, and riches He's offered to us in adopting us into His kingdom and in the giving of His word, and I hope we'd jump into our times with God in prayer and Bible reading with increasing joy, excitement, and longing as married lovers feel when finally reunited after a long busy day- never satisfied with how much time is left in the day for them to spend together, but content if it meant merely just sitting and enjoying the presence of one another.

May we never forget how costly and amazing this grace is, and that the privilege we have of approaching God as sons and daughters everyday is nothing short of like a cripple, who should have been executed, being invited to dine at the King's table like one of the King's own sons for the rest of his life.