More Than Anything, I Want The King

More Than Anything, I Want The King

II Samuel 19:24-30

I.. Absolute trust

II. Absolute devotion

III. Absolute abandonment

We have before us a right moving text. Miphobesheth was one of the sons of Saul. He was born with crippled legs and had won a special place in the heart of King David who had spared his life and had even allowed him to remain on in the palace and sit at his table as tho he were part of the royal family still. During all the difficulty David had undergone, Miphobesheth had been led out of the palace and he and his servant had been granted a portion of land by the king. When David was coming back to the palace again he had waited to hear from Miphobesheth but didn’t. David had thought that perhaps he had turned against him as well. It turns out that what had happened was that Miphobesheth’s servant had tricked him and had stolen his pack animal for himself and had left him alone. Now David comes back and there is some uncertainty as to what is going to happen. There is a most beautiful parallel here that helps us see something about our desire for Jesus that I want you to see as we look into this passage today. When David said you go ahead and take the land, Miphobesheth says that now that the king is back, he does not want any land, all he wants is to sit at the kings table. What a profound statement. I am wondering today if that is a statement that you could make about Jesus?

As we follow this parallel we want to see first of all the absolute trust. Miphobesheth says to David, "you do what is right" He knew that his very life was in David’s hands, as it had been all along and he expressed that to the king as he told him that what ever the king chose to do was fine with him. Are you in that place with Jesus? When it comes to your every day existence, to the things that go on in your life have you come to the place that you do trust Jesus enough that you leave all those details to Him. Are you aware that your life really is in His hands anyway and you are willing to allow Him to make those decisions and choices for you? Are you in that place of absolute trust? I recently read this story, one day, while my son Zac and I were out in the country, climbing around in some cliffs, I heard a voice from above me yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" I turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at me. He had jumped and them yelled "Hey Dad!" I became an instant circus act, catching him. We both fell to the ground. For a moment after I caught him I could hardly talk. When I found my voice again I gasped in exasperation: "Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???" He responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure...because you’re my Dad." His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. He could live life to the hilt because I could be trusted. Isn’t this even more true for a Christian?

Then secondly, we see absolute devotion. Miphobesheth says to David, we were like dead men. He is acknowledging that David had his life in his hands, but David spared him and showed him mercy and grace. Out of that act came a deep sense of devotion. In the similar manner out of what Jesus has done for us should come a deep sense of devotion. A sense of longing for Him and caring for Him to the point of devotion. A wife who is 85% faithful to her husband is not faithful at all. There is no such thing as part-time loyalty to Jesus Christ. How would you count your loyalty to Jesus? In 1912 William Borden, a graduate of Yale University, left one of America’s greatest family fortunes to be a missionary to China. He got as far as Egypt and died of cerebral meningitis. He died--and was only in his 20s--but there was "no reserve, no retreat, no regrets" in his consecration to God. In this day when we are so tossed about with allegiances, we move form who can do the most for us now to the newest one on the scene, are you devoted to Jesus and how could you tell? What would you find around as an indication? Could you tell you were devoted to Jesus by the music that you listen to? Could you tell by the reading material that you have? Could you tell by your conversation?