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When it comes to naming their child, I sometimes wonder to myself, "What were those parents thinking?! That poor kid will go through life having to spell his/her name every time he/she is asked, 'Name please?'"
I have no doubt this would be the case for Mephibosheth every time he lined up at the Lo-debar Welfare Centre! It was tough enough that he was permanently crippled, let alone being blessed with a name like that!! (I refer you to my previous entry in this log because my thinking is again in 2 Samuel 9 as I reflect further on this remarkable OT event that illustrates NT truth).
However, a day came when Mephibosheth was glad to own that name because everything was to change that day in ways that were beyond his wildest hopes and dreams. It all had to do with a covenant that his father, Jonathan, had made years before with the now King David; a covenant about which Mephibosheth probably knew nothing.
He was a grandson of the now deceased King Saul, who came to consider David as his mortal enemy and did everything he could to kill him. Mephibosheth could reasonably expect that David would harbour nothing but revenge towards the house of Saul. I imagine that Mephibosheth waited for and dreaded the day when soldiers would break down his door and drag him off to be executed.
David was searching for him. That is abundantly clear. But he was seeking him for a very different purpose to what Mephibosheth thought. David wanted to find Mephibosheth in order "to show kindness for Jonathan's sake". I don't think Mephibosheth would use the word "kindness" to describe what he expected to get from David!! Revenge? Almost certainly. Kindness? No way!
What does the average person in my neighbourhood expect to get from God should they ever come face-to-face with Him? Disapproval? Punishment? Alienation? Consignment to hell? I can tell you what they do not expect. Kindness. Love. Acceptance. They do not expect anything like these graces anymore than the prodigal son anticipated his father to welcome him home and restore him to full sonship.
Mephibosheth was the object of David's kindness and was taken from Lo-debar (the place of no bread, the place of scarcity) to eat at the Kings' table "like one of the King's own sons" (v.11) It reminds me again of the prodigal son who came from that distant land and no food to again eat at his father's table.
What grace!!
