Come and Dine

Do you remember Mephibosheth?  He was the grandson of Saul, the King of Israel.   He was also the son of David’s dearest friend, Jonathan.  When David became King after Saul and Jonathan died, the family of Saul, thinking that David would have them killed, ran away taking Mephibosheth with them. 

During the escape Mephibosheth was injured in such a way that he would always be lame.

Many years went by and David remembered a promise he had made to Jonathan.  The promise was that David would always do kindness to the family of Saul so he sought out any relatives who were still alive.  They found Mephibosheth and brought him in to the King.  He appeared, trembling and bowing.  This is how the conversation went.  

“Mephibosheth!"

"At your service,” he replied.  

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “who am I” that you should notice a dead dog like me?”  2 Sam 9:7 (NIV)

That’s how he thought of himself, as a dead dog – but David didn’t see him that way, David saw him as the son of his dearest friend.  And I can believe that David was looking forward to seeing him every day at dinner time. 

The fact that David made the first move to rescue Mephibosheth reminds us that it was God who reached out to us  - He made the first move.  We were estranged from God and enemies of God, yet He loved us and sent His Son to die for us.  The scripture tells us in Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us".

For David to restore Mephibosheth cost him very little, but for God to restore us and bring us into His family, Jesus had to sacrifice His life. 

We weren’t entitled to eat at His table any more than Mephibosheth was entitled to dine at David’s table. But because of a promise, he would spend the rest of his life in the presence of the king.  And we will sit at God’s table as well, because of a promise He made long, long, ago.  

The promise was that He would send a savior to redeem us, to pay the cost of our sins, so that we could spend eternity at God’s table.

What an honor!  Even to be able to serve Him at that table would be enough.  Or it would be amazing to even peek in the door and see the meal eaten – that would be more than I deserved. 

We don’t deserve it - not by anything we have done, it’s an honor that God bestows on us because Jesus died for us and we are now God’s adopted children.

Mephibosheth was very aware of David’s position in the kingdom – David was the king.  And we need to be aware of God’s position as Creator, Master, King of the universe - so that we can understand the honor He bestows on us when He invites us to dine at His table.

An amazing thing is that Jesus wrote out the invitation for us.  He bought and paid the price.  He will be sitting at the right hand of the Father at that meal and we’ll be there because of His sacrifice.

Psalm 107:8-9 (NIV)

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

    and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

 for he satisfies the thirsty

    and fills the hungry with good things.

Hunger for God, hunger for His love, hunger for home – they will all be filled at His table in our eternal home.