Page Two: “Mephibosheth: Responding To God” – 4/22/2012
Folks, does it ever appear to you that, like Mephibosheth, you never get any breaks, so to speak. But if you’ll allow me a not-so-deeply spiritual response to this: “So what!”
Life is never what we would call perfect. As a matter of fact, life isn’t designed by anyone to be perfect. Your world is not a perfect world. If anything, God has His hand upon imperfect people with imperfect and sometimes very undesirable circumstances. And yet, His plan is always for us to learn the secret of success, which is, to be content in whatever place He has placed us. That, folks, is His will.
Now, there’s even more of what we would call injustices that fall upon Mephibosheth. That’s what we find here in II Samuel nineteen.
Please look with me at verse twenty-four.
II Samuel 19:24 “And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.
David, as you know, had been forced from his throne and chose to run for his life while his own son Absalom took over the palace.
(25) And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? “Wherefore” is the Old English for “Why?” “Why didn’t you come with me when we left the palace?”
(26) And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant [whose name is Ziba] deceived me: for thy servant [Mephibosheth] said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame.
(27) And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.
(28) For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?”
Here is just one more in a long line of injustices that this man had endured. His own servant, a man named Ziba, for reasons we can only guess, came to David with food and water while he was fleeing the palace. When David asks about Mephibosheth, Ziba lies to him.
Look with me at his words, II Samuel 16:1. II Samuel 16:1 “And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.
(2) And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.
(3) And the king said, And where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
(4) Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.”
Two things are very clear in this conversation. One, for some reason, Ziba lies about Mephibosheth. And two, David, the king, gives away all of Mephibosheth’s land and possessions to Ziba.
Now, of course, in hindsight, we think that David should have investigated Ziba’s claim before making a decision. But at the time David was fleeing for his life. Instead, he chose to simply believe it. I’m presuming he had no reason to doubt his word at his point.
With all that Mephibosheth has experienced in his life, things are now compounded by the fact that he is now slandered by his own servant, Ziba.
Most often, as we all know, slander is intentional. But when it comes from someone who is, in essence, responsible to see that you are being cared for, it must have been doubly difficult for Mephibosheth.
Now, folks, you may not have had anything similar to Mephibosheth. But I do know this. Your personal and daily success is not dependent upon the injustices people have done to you. Instead, they are determined by a simple, child-like attitude that is seen continually in this man’s life. And that attitude is humility.
Humility is simply letting God have His way in your heart and life.
Here is a word from one of my favorite writers. His name is Fenelon. This is his word on humility. See if it doesn’t bless your heart to hear it.
Life is never what we would call perfect. As a matter of fact, life isn’t designed by anyone to be perfect. Your world is not a perfect world. If anything, God has His hand upon imperfect people with imperfect and sometimes very undesirable circumstances. And yet, His plan is always for us to learn the secret of success, which is, to be content in whatever place He has placed us. That, folks, is His will.
Now, there’s even more of what we would call injustices that fall upon Mephibosheth. That’s what we find here in II Samuel nineteen.
Please look with me at verse twenty-four.
II Samuel 19:24 “And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.
David, as you know, had been forced from his throne and chose to run for his life while his own son Absalom took over the palace.
(25) And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? “Wherefore” is the Old English for “Why?” “Why didn’t you come with me when we left the palace?”
(26) And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant [whose name is Ziba] deceived me: for thy servant [Mephibosheth] said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame.
(27) And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.
(28) For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?”
Here is just one more in a long line of injustices that this man had endured. His own servant, a man named Ziba, for reasons we can only guess, came to David with food and water while he was fleeing the palace. When David asks about Mephibosheth, Ziba lies to him.
Look with me at his words, II Samuel 16:1. II Samuel 16:1 “And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.
(2) And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.
(3) And the king said, And where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
(4) Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.”
Two things are very clear in this conversation. One, for some reason, Ziba lies about Mephibosheth. And two, David, the king, gives away all of Mephibosheth’s land and possessions to Ziba.
Now, of course, in hindsight, we think that David should have investigated Ziba’s claim before making a decision. But at the time David was fleeing for his life. Instead, he chose to simply believe it. I’m presuming he had no reason to doubt his word at his point.
With all that Mephibosheth has experienced in his life, things are now compounded by the fact that he is now slandered by his own servant, Ziba.
Most often, as we all know, slander is intentional. But when it comes from someone who is, in essence, responsible to see that you are being cared for, it must have been doubly difficult for Mephibosheth.
Now, folks, you may not have had anything similar to Mephibosheth. But I do know this. Your personal and daily success is not dependent upon the injustices people have done to you. Instead, they are determined by a simple, child-like attitude that is seen continually in this man’s life. And that attitude is humility.
Humility is simply letting God have His way in your heart and life.
Here is a word from one of my favorite writers. His name is Fenelon. This is his word on humility. See if it doesn’t bless your heart to hear it.