Receiving the Promised Blessing
Responding to blessing
In chapter 7 we saw a wonderful interchange between God and David over God’s promises. It starts with David wanting to build a house for God, and God says, “No, I am going to build a dynasty for you.” And He goes on to make all kinds of amazing promises to David. And then David responds with a prayer of humility and astonished thanksgiving, and then praise, and then he boldly asks God to fulfill the promises and give him that glorious kingdom.
Chapter 8 is the answer to that prayer. In chapter 7 we saw the interaction between God and David when the promises were made; in chapter 8 we will see the interaction between God and David when the promises are fulfilled. Chapter 7 teaches us how to respond to God’s promises; chapter 8 is going to teach us how to respond to the blessings that come from those promises.
Victories
1 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them
And that is almost the last we ever hear of the Philistines. They have played a major role in chapter after chapter all the way through 1 and 2 Samuel – perennial enemies who just kept coming back and who were a constant problem for Israel. But finally David took care of them. Saul had defeated them on occasion, or pushed them back into their own territory, but never before had Israel ever subdued them. We do not hear a single word about the Philistine threat again until David is an old man in chapter 23.
The writer just mentions it without any fanfare in one little verse and then moves on, but if you have been with us in this study from the beginning that is just incredible! The Philistine problem eliminated! If the chapter ended right here after verse 1 we would say, “Wow! What a fantastic and glorious fulfillment of the promise!” But God is just getting warmed up.
2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute.
So David takes care of the Philistines to the west and the Moabites to the east. Then he heads north – way north.
3 Moreover, David fought Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his control along the Euphrates River.
The region of Zobah was about 150 miles north of Jerusalem – for us that would be about 50 miles north of the Wyoming border.
4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.
So David is cutting through the enemies of Israel like butter. But then a problem arises. Hadadezer has some allies – the Arameans. And here they come. David is a long way from home and now he is going to have to fight on two fronts. Let’s see how he does.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute.
David defeated their army and took over the entire Aramean kingdom.
So you get the point - David is winning big wherever he goes. What is the significance of that?
6 …The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
Does that strike you as an important statement for interpreting the purpose of this chapter? If not, maybe it will when you see it repeated.
14 …The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
This is not a chapter about David’s military prowess or strength or genius. It is a chapter about God fulfilling the promises He made in chapter 7 – in dramatic fashion.
The Israeli Empire
9 When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10 he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou.
Hamath was another 100 miles north of Zoba – 250 miles north of Jerusalem. So this is a king of a distant land, coming to honor David.
Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze.
Tou had been unable to defeat Hadadezer. David did defeat Hadadezer, so David could have easily defeated the weaker Tou. But he doesn’t. He could just march in and take whatever he pleased from Tou, but he didn’t. When Tou showed he was not going to be hostile David left him alone. David was not just in a mad land grab to take as much territory as he could. He was simply subduing the enemies who were threatening God’s people.
I thought about titling this section “General Tou is Chicken,” but I didn’t because that would be to miss the point. Tou is not being cowardly here – he is just being smart. David has the blessing of God on him. When someone is invincible you want him as an ally, not an enemy.
13 And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David.
Scholars who have applied the terms of modern political science to ancient times have developed terminology to describe five different levels of political entities. The smallest is a tribal kingdom. Next is a national kingdom. The third stage is a consolidated territorial state. The fourth is a multinational state. And the fifth is an empire. And in this chapter the writer shows how Israel, under David attained each one of those stages so that by the time David accomplished the victories in the north Israel was a full-blown empire – complete with vassal kings and subjugated nations. David completely dominated the entire mid-east, and his kingdom absolutely dwarfed any previous nation in that part of the world – including Egypt.
Spoils
So God gives victory to David wherever he turns. And not just victory – but also the spoils that go along with victory.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.
When he says great quantity he is not kidding. According to 1 Chronicles 22:14 it was one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver. That is almost 4000 tons of gold and 40,000 tons of silver. God promised to give David a great kingdom; and this is how He begins to fulfill that promise.
Using blessing to honor God
Now in the next section – verses 11-14 – we see how David responds. What is David going to do with all these treasures?
Dedicated to the LORD
11 King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued
That same verse that prohibited the accumulation of many horses also forbade the accumulation of riches.
Deuteronomy 17:17 He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
And so David does a very rare thing. He does not take one penny of the plunder. The plunder from just one of these victories was over 40,000 tons of gold and silver. And David does not just give God ten percent. Or fifty percent. Even if David gave ninety-nine percent and kept just one percent for himself – that would be 40 tons of gold and silver he would keep. But David does not even keep one percent - he gives it all.
Matthew Henry: “This crowned all his victories, and made them far to out-shine Alexander's or Caesar's, that they sought their own glory, but he aimed at the glory of God.” Think about this for a minute: What sort of gifts should you offer to the Lord for His honor? I would suggest – only big things. Don’t offer God something cheesy. Don’t offer Him something that will not benefit Him. Think about how worthy He is. Consider the majesty and magnificence of His greatness, and only offer Him gifts that are at least in the same ballpark of His glorious splendor. Do not offer Him something that He will just have to tape up on His refrigerator door and say, “Well, it’s the thought that counts.” Give Him something He can use.
That is what David did. David did not just drop a couple bucks in the Temple building fund every other month. He amassed an immense treasury that Solomon was able to use to build the Temple. David did not dishonor Him by throwing something small in there. He gave an enormous gift – a gift not only fit for a king, but a gift fit for God Himself.
And that is what we need to do – offer God something big – something He can really use – something that is up there at the same level of God’s own glory. Something people will be able to look at and say, “Wow, that is how great God really is – He is worthy of such a magnificent gift!” Don’t mess around giving Him anything less.
Now at this point in the sermon I am guessing that you are thinking one of two things. Either you are at wits end, thinking, This is impossible! I wish I could offer God something truly great, but I can’t. I’m not David. I don’t have 4000 tons of silver to drop in the offering box. Knowing that God is worthy of such great things and I have so little to offer just leads me to despair.
I am guessing either you are thinking that or you are thinking, OK Darrell, what are you up to here? Is this all tongue in cheek or what? Is there some punch line coming or something? You cannot possibly mean that we are supposed to offer God something in the ballpark of His infinite glory or that God can use or that will benefit Him. This must be some illustration or something, but I know you cannot really mean all this.
I do mean it – all of it. And I mean it literally. “But what about all those things you have said in the past about God is always the benefactor and we are always the beneficiaries? He is the giver and we are the receivers, and the idea of us supplying Him with something He needs is absurd because He is utterly self-sufficient and needs nothing from us.” All that is still true. It is impossible for a human being to benefit God. By definition it is impossible for God to be benefited by anyone but Himself. And yet I still insist that we should give Him only gifts that benefit Him and that are worthy of Him.
Let me give you a parable to illustrate what I am saying. There was a glorious kingdom ruled by a great king. And the entire kingdom was astir and buzzing with excitement because the time had come for the prince to officially receive the crown. Both the king and the prince were loved by all because of their wisdom and kindness and goodness. When the news about the crowning of the prince was announced there was one man in particular who wanted to do something to honor the prince at his coronation. He wanted to give him a gift that would be fitting given the prince’s great glory and splendor and fame. So he went home looked over all his “treasures” – such as they were – but it was immediately obvious that even the most costly items he owned would be an insult if given as a gift to this great prince.
But then he thought, I may not own anything of value, but I have a strong back and I know how to work hard. And so he determined to go to the prince and offer his services as a gesture of honor. But as he began to approach the palace the whole area became crowded with the massive staff of royal servants. The soldiers were massive, giant men. The gardeners were the most skilled gardeners in all the land. The messengers could run like the wind. Even the doorkeeper made this man feel inept and impotent. And he turned back toward his home hanging his head in shame and disappointment. There was clearly nothing he could ever do or offer that would be worthy to present to this king.
But his sorrow did not escape the notice of the compassionate king, who saw this man approach, and then become discouraged, and turn away. So the king called together all his highest officials. “I have decided to undertake a building project. It will be far greater than anything we have ever attempted in the past. I want a mansion built that will be one of the wonders of the world.” His officials asked, “Are you displeased with your current palace, sire?” “No, this is not for me. It is a gift for that man who turned away. Build it for him, and spare no expense.”
So for years to come thousands of the king’s servants worked tirelessly until finally they had constructed a mansion unlike any that had ever been built. And they presented it to that man. And in his joy he, in turn, presented it to the prince – elated that he finally had a gift that was fitting for the glory and majesty and goodness of this great prince.
You see, the only person in the land capable of creating a gift worthy of the prince was the king himself. The only person who can generate a gift fit to offer the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself. Not all the resources in the world could ever benefit Christ in the slightest degree. It is impossible for God to be benefited by anything other than Himself. But Christ can be benefited by things that come from God the Father. And that is why the Father gives us things – so we will have something fit to offer back to the Son. The only kind of gift you can give to the Lord Jesus Christ that is good enough to really honor Him is a gift with a designer label that says, “Made in heaven.”
And that is what makes God’s gifts to us so valuable. If God’s blessings were just nice little favors to make our life a little more pleasant, that would be great. But they are so much more than that. Their real value is not in making our lives more comfortable or fun or pleasurable. Their real value is in the fact that they place in our hands a gift fit for a King – fit even for the King of kings. The gifts we get from God are precious to us because they show us His love, and they are precious to us because they are delightful things to receive, but most of all they are exceedingly precious to us because they place in our hands something that we can offer to the Lord Jesus Christ that is worthy and fitting and commensurate with His greatness.
The king in the story gave that mansion to the man because he knew the man would use it to honor his son. Let me ask you this: What treasure and blessing would God withhold from you if He knew you would use it to honor His Son?
So what kinds of gifts should we offer God in worship? Only big, glorious things – name brand things. Do not ever offer God anything that does not have “Made in heaven” on the label. The Lord Jesus Christ is a great, glorious king who is worthy of only the highest honor – so do not offer Him anything unless it is like that mansion in the story.
So what do you have that is like that mansion? What do you have that has a “made in heaven” label? What about your spiritual gift? Isn’t that from God? Yes, it is – that is why it is called a spiritual gift; because it is from the Holy Spirit. So your role in the church – your calling, the opportunities you have to serve the Lord in the Church – that is like the mansion in the story. Do not ever disparage your calling or your gifts. When you say that your role is small and unimportant or that your gifts are small and unimpressive – that is like the man in the story seeing that amazing mansion and saying, “No thanks. It’s not that great.” Your spiritual gifts have a “made in heaven” label – it was given to you so you would have something worthwhile to offer the great King; do not neglect it.
What else has that label? Anything else in your life that came from the hand of God? How about … everything in your life?
1 Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive?
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights
Everything is from God – even the trials in your life. And I think most of us understand that, and most of us see the good things in our lives as gifts from God, and most of us are grateful for those things, but that is not enough. It is good that you see it as coming from God. And it is good that it causes gratitude in your heart. But do not stop there. Do not just say, “Hey, I really like this blessing – thanks, God.” See the blessing for what it is – it is like that mansion. It is good and perfect and fit for a king. It is something you can offer back to the Lord Jesus Christ that is so grand and glorious that it will bring universal honor to His name.
But how? Well, that is the question. That is the question we need to all be asking all the time. Here is a gift from God; how can I use it to bring honor to the name of Christ? He supplied me with enough money to go on a vacation – how can I use this vacation to bring honor to the name of Christ? This marriage He gave me is like that mansion – it says “made in heaven” on it – so how can I use it to bring honor to the name of Christ? This tasty food I just ate, or that breath of fresh, Fall air that I inhaled and God enabled me to enjoy in a special way – how can I use that enjoyment to bring honor to His name? The intelligence He has given me, my children, my parents, my clothes, my car, my education, my past work experience, my friends, my health, my personality, the virtues He has built in me, the church He has placed me in, the rest He granted me last night – how can all that be used to bring honor to the great King of kings?
The answer is this – there are two ways. The first way is worship. When David showed up on the doorstep of the Tabernacle with over one thousand semi trailer loads of gold and silver, that was an act of worship. The text says he dedicated it to the Lord. One way to honor God with the gifts He gives you is to use them to spur your heart on to worship. And worship can take a lot of forms. You can worship God in giving – like David did. That is why our offering takes place during our worship service – because it is one of the ways we worship God.
You can also worship God with prayers of thanksgiving for the gifts He has given. You can worship Him in song – expressing the joy in your heart over His gifts. There is a number of ways you can worship God in response to His gifts. But there is one way to worship God in response to His gifts that receives the most attention in Scripture. And that we see starting in verse 15.
Using blessing to serve God’s people
Victory from God
Leading up to David’s time there had been four major empires in that part of the world – the Babylonian empire, the Egyptian empire, the Hittite empire, and the Assyrian empire. And all four of them experienced a long period of decline leading up to this time, resulting in a kind of a power vacuum in the world which left the world wide open for David to takeover. That power vacuum was not caused by David. He had nothing to do with it. It was caused by God. So many times we pat ourselves on the back because of something we accomplish, and we are so proud of ourselves for all our intelligence and skill, and it does not even occur to us that God had to move mountains in order to organize circumstances in such a way that we would be able to succeed.
Power!
It is easy to miss the point of this section by becoming distracted by the brutality of what David did. David was carrying out the judgment of God on those people and what he was doing was good. The point that we need to make sure we do not miss is that the Lord’s anointed king had absolute, unhindered power to do whatever he chose to do with those people. David let one-third of the Moabites live, but only out of mercy. If he had so decided he could have killed every last one of them. If he chose to take gold he took as much of it as he pleased. If he chose to let them continue to live under their current king he made that king his vassal, and set up garrisons in that region so he could control it. Whatever he chose to do is what happened, and not even the most powerful empires in the world could do anything about it.
That is the kind of power and authority that God’s anointed has. And it is a picture of the Messiah. When Jesus returns at the Second Coming He will rule with absolute domination. If He decides a nation will be punished, they will be punished. If He decides someone will be spared, they will be spared. If a nation submits to Him He will have mercy on them. If a nation resists Him, He will crush itthem. The fate of every last man, woman, and child on the planet will rest in His hands.
Does that sound a little scary? Like a little too much power for one individual to possess? It depends on the individual and how he governs. If he uses that power for evil then yes, it is too much power. But if he uses it only for good then the more power he has the better. So how did David govern?
15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.
David’s reign was marked by justice and righteousness. When the writers of Holy Scripture want to describe God in just two words, very often the two they choose are justice and righteousness.
Job 37:23 in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
Psalm 36:6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.
Isaiah 5:16 the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.
In a very fundamental way justice and righteousness describe the nature of God. And so it is no surprise that justice and righteousness will be the hallmarks of the reign of the Messiah.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
That is the way God is, that is the way the Messiah will rule, and that is the way we are to be. When we show righteousness and justice to others it is especially pleasing to God.
Proverbs 21:3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Psalms 106:3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.
So when the writer characterizes David’s reign as being summed up by righteousness and justice that is some very high praise. You cannot say anything better about a government than that. David protected the people from injustice and oppression and crime. Under David the laborers in Israel were protected from employers who would fail to pay their full wages. The people did not have to worry about unfair treatment. They did not have to worry about things being stolen from them, or failing to pay a debt. There were not overly-harsh penalties for crimes – nor were dangerous criminals allowed to continue committing crimes. Taxes were not too high. Poor and weak and gullible people were not preyed upon. Favoritism was not shown to the rich or the attractive or the popular. If you were a nobody, helpless, or undesirable you did not have to worry about being cast aside or trodden underfoot. This was a great time to live in Israel. It was a just government. And it was well-run. It is not just that David himself was just and righteous – he appointed skilled, effective leaders in the key positions of his cabinet. That is described in verses 16-18.
Example: Mephibosheth
Faithful Love
And if you want a specific example of what this just, righteous governing looked like in practice, that is what the next chapter is all about.
9:1 David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
Don’t you just love how proactive that is? So often we grudgingly do good when someone or something pressures us. But David had times when he just thought, “What act of kindness have I left undone? What good could I do? What love could I show? What service could I render? What is missing in what I am offering to the Lord right now?”
And as he is thinking all that and asking himself those questions – something comes to mind. David had made a promise to Jonathan to show kindness to his family. So even in the midst of all his huge, glorious successes David is still searching his heart and asking, “Is there some commitment I have made that has been left unfulfilled?” And there was.
The word translated love here (HESED) in this kind of context refers to the faithful, reliable, promise-keeping, trustworthy side of love. God had been faithful to David and now David wants to show faithful love. I read this week about a line in a movie in which Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are on the beach talking and she wants him to marry her. And Redford’s character answers by saying, “Do you think I will love you more because of a piece of paper?” Put it in those terms and it makes marriage sound kind of silly. But when people say things like that what they do not understand is the piece of paper has nothing to do with the intensity of love; however it has everything to do with the security of love. Dale Ralph Davis: “Love that truly loves is willing to bind itself, is willing to promise, willingly and gladly obligates itself so that the other may stand securely in that love.” You see, for love to really be fully enjoyed the other person needs to be able to enjoy not just present love but future love. And you can only enjoy future love if there is a reliable promise. A man who is afraid of that piece of paper is afraid of it because he wants to keep the option open of cutting his love off at some point in the future depending on how things go. And if the threat of love being cut off in the future looms over the relationship then it destroys the joy even of present love. So the answer to Redford’s question about the piece of paper is yes – love that is willing to promise is a greater love.
And that is a good thing for all married people to keep in mind. If you have ever once threatened to leave your spouse, you are guilty of unfaithfulness in your marriage and you need to repent and renounce that sin and seek your spouse’s forgiveness and resolve to never, ever do that again. There are some people who think they have been faithful because they have not divorced, but if you hang the threat of divorce or separation out there then you are guilty of unfaithfulness. Faithful love promises future love. That is the point of the piece of paper. That is the point of marriage.
When someone holds the threat of leaving over the head of the other, what that says is, “You had better make sure you always live up to a high enough standard or you will lose me.” And it is a curse to live under an arraignment like that. It is like having to stay awake and on guard twenty-four hours a day. The person can never just rest in assured love.
But the covenant loyalty or faithful, promise-making, promise-keeping love is a wonderful thing that reflects the love of God. It is the kind of love God showed toward David when He made the amazing promises of chapter 7. And it is the love David now shows to Jonathan in chapter 9.
So David summons Saul’s old servant Ziba and asks if there are any remaining relatives of Saul.
3 The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?" Ziba answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet."
Remember him? That’s Mephibosheth - the little 5 year old son of Jonathan who got injured in the scramble when the Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan. So David calls for him to come to the palace. No doubt Mephibosheth was quaking in his sandals at this point. The normal procedure when a king took over after a hostile rival was to put to death every living relative of that rival. That was the norm. And the last member of Saul’s house who went down to see David ended up dead – and so did the one before that. So a member of Saul’s house being invited to come see David seemed to be like a lamb receiving an invitation to the slaughter house.
7 "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." 8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?" 9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master's grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Ziba is a wealthy man. In that culture if you have fifteen sons and twenty servants, you are a big shot. But now he is the slave of Mephibosheth.
11 … So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.
In ancient times the lame were generally pretty much cast aside by society. But a righteous and just king will honor his word and his commitments. And the fact that doing so meant taking care of an outcast did not deter David in the slightest. He did not just secretly send him a pile of cash or shuffle him off to be cared for. He brought him into his own house and treated him like a son.
And that goes way beyond David’s promise, by the way. If you go back to 1 Samuel 20 you find that the covenant was simply that David would spare Jonathan’s family and not put them to death (1 Samuel 20:15), and David had technically already fulfilled what he promised simply by allowing Mephibosheth to live. But love delights in going beyond what is required and lavishing favor.
In David’s kingdom not only are people like Mephibosheth not trampled on and treated unjustly and cruelly, but they are shown favor. Mephibosheth humbled himself and David exalted him. Mephibosheth bows before David and refers to himself as a dead dog that was unworthy of any favor. He was the son of a prince, with royal blood, and the son of David’s best friend, and the beneficiary of David’s covenant with Jonathan and Saul, but he neither demands nor expects anything and is surprised by grace and favor. In the kingdom of David the lowly are exalted. Humble yourself, honor the king, and He will lift you up and show you favor – that is part of what it means to rule with righteousness and justice. It means to honor the kind of people God honors, and that is the humble and reverent and lowly.
Use your power to show kindness
The most important way to turn the gifts of God into worship is by using them to pour out God’s love on His people. Whatever power God gives you, you used it to bless the humble and needy and lowly. That is acceptable worship. That is the mansion in the parable.
All virtues should strike us as beautiful and attractive. But because of the corruption in our hearts and our varying stages of growth there are some we can see the beauty of and others that still are not all that appealing to us. I know there are some that should be much more appealing to me than they are, and I long to make progress in those areas. But even for a heart as corrupt and sinful as mine this virtue is exceedingly beautiful. I love this. I love seeing power used to bless the lowly. When power is used for the purpose of cruelty it is especially infuriating to me – I really hate that. And when power is used to show kindness to the outcasts I just love that. That is what power is for.
So let me talk for a moment to those of you who are in power. And when I think of people in power you know what the first thing that comes to my mind is? Kids at school. If you are a student and you have some friends at school, you have a huge amount of power, because in every school there are always some kids who have no friends. For whatever reason they are kind of pushed out and made fun of or ignored by everyone, and all the other kids are kind of mean to them. If you have some friends – even if it is just a few friends, you have the power to welcome those outcast kids into your circle. By befriending them and showing kindness to them and welcoming them into your group you might change their life from being an absolute horror every day to actually looking forward to coming to school. That is a lot of power.
And you could use that power for evil too. You could use your power to ignore or reject those outcast kids. You have the power to make their lives so horrible and miserable that they get sick every morning just thinking about coming to school, because they know they will get picked on or embarrassed or made fun of. If you have any friends or any popularity, you have power.
That is one kind of power. There are other kinds. If you have money you have power. I don’t know of anyone in this church who is super-rich, but most all of us have some money. If you have any money at all you have some power. It can be used to show people the love of Christ or you can just blow it all on your pleasures.
If you have two arms and two legs that work you have power that can be used for love or used for selfishness. If you have some skill you have power in what you do with that skill. If you have intelligence you have power. If you are in a position of authority – over your children or over your wife or over your employees – you have power.
We are little specks of dust living on a speck of dust that orbits around a speck of dust – and God gives us power. Why? Because He wants us to have the opportunity to experience the joy of His love flowing through us to others. He wants His love to come to people not just out of the thin air but through a person with a face – who can touch them and laugh and cry with them and whose smile they can see – someone like you.
My dad once told me about a pastor who was preaching about this principle and he said, “God has given you gifts – just like this…” and he took out his wallet and grabbed a $10 bill and handed it to someone in the front row. Then he said, “Why do you think God gave you that gift? So you could hang on to it?” And when he said that the guy in the front row handed the $10 bill to someone else. And that person took out his wallet and grabbed a few more dollars to add to it and handed it all to the next person. And the next person did the same – and by the time it got to the end it was a large sum of money. I don’t know who ended up with the wad of cash at the end but the people got the point. God does not give us gifts to just horde them. He wants us to take what we get and add all we can to it and pass it along. You are not the owner of your spiritual gifts. You are a steward, and those gifts were placed in your hands for the benefit of the Church. If you are not using them to serve the people of God, why should God leave them in your care? Why shouldn’t He take them all away and place them in the hands of someone who will be faithful to use them to bless His people? The power God has given you is not just for you. It is for us.
You can see that in verse 3.
3 The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's love?"
David was not just interested in showing love. He was interested in showing God’s love – letting the love of God flow through him to others. And he learned that from his friend Jonathan.
1 Samuel 20:14 If I continue to live, treat me with the Lord’s love, but if I die, 15 don’t ever withdraw your faithful love from my household
The Lord’s love is not meant to dead end with us. You receive the greatest joy of it when it flows through you to others.
First David received it from God then he passed it along to Mephibosheth. When did David ever receive the love of covenant faithfulness from God? Chapters 7 and 8! When does he pass it along to others? Chapters 8 and 9! When David says to whom can I show the love God showed me? He is talking about the love God showed him in chapters 7 and 8. Any love that is not the love of God is superficial. Philanthropy without theology is empty.
12 … and all the members of Ziba's household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table, and he was crippled in both feet.
We already know that he ate at David’s table and that he was crippled. But the writer repeats both facts together in the closing verse. He wants not only to remind us of them, but for us to see them side by side. He ate at the king’s table and he was lame. That is the point being made – a man who would normally be an absolute outcast was invited to sit at the king’s table. And wealthy, important, big shot Ziba and all his sons and servants are now all his servants. That is the kind of heart David had.
What a picture this is of Christ. We are Mephibosheth. We were lame and helpless and powerless and needy and pitiful. And our father was Christ’s arch-enemy, the devil. And we were His enemies. And we did not seek Him out; He came to seek and save us. We had nothing to offer Him, but because of His promises and His faithfulness He sought to show favor to us. And He lavished upon us every imaginable favor and took us in to His own house and His children at His table forever.
Benediction: Mic.6:7-8 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
