The Kindness Of God

We all need kindness. It is a language the dumb can speak, the deaf can hear, and the blind can see.

• Kindness is more than just loving people. It is loving people more than they deserve.

• Kindness is ‘going the extra mile’, it is grace put into action.

We are going to look at one encounter in King David’s life today, and see the example of kindness.

• And through it, we want to remind ourselves of the kindness of God, and the grace of God in our own lives.

[Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13]

David is now the reigning King of Israel. The previous King – King Saul and his son Jonathan died in the war with the Philistines.

• They had a descendant, now an orphan, Mephibosheth. He was lame in both feet.

• 2 Sam 4:4 tells us why – “Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.”

King David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (9:1)

• He remembers them. King Saul was his predecessor and God’s anointed. Jonathan was his good friend.

• When Jonathan died, David wrote a lament. See 2 Sam 1:25-26 “How the mighty have fallen in battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.” They were very close friends.

So David asked Ziba, King Saul’s servant. “Is there anyone to whom I can show God’s kindness?” (9:3)

• Is there anyone in your life that you can show God’s kindness? Having received God’s blessing, is there someone that you can share this blessing with? Is there someone that needed God’s grace too?

• The servant answered the King, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet.” (v.3)

The King asked for him to be brought to the palace. He wants to see him.

• I believe Mephibosheth would never forget that day. His grandfather and father have already passed away. He is a ‘nobody’.

• But now the King has asked to see him. He must be afraid. In those times, it is quite common that when a King takes the throne, he would eliminate the family of the King before him, to prevent future revolt or other problems.

The first words that David said to him were: “Don’t be afraid.” (v.7) He was afraid, as expected.

• But the King shows him kindness. He restores to him all the land that belonged to his grandfather Saul.

• And He wants him to sit with him at every meal. He is going to share the same table with the King.

Mephibosheth found grace that day. Or rather, grace found him.

• He did not seek the King; King sought him out. He did not do anything to earn it. He just receives it.

• Even though Mephibosheth felt small, crippled, and unworthy, he ended up spending the rest of his life with the King, sharing the same table with him.

• He got what a prince would have received, because the King showed kindness.

Today we are blessed because God has been kind to us.

• It is the grace of God that finds us. It is not that we have been seeking God.

• He was the One looking for us. He came because He loves us.

• We did not do anything to deserve it. We were sinners when Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). He died for our sin on the cross.

We were crippled by sin and living in misery, and God showed His love towards us by seeking us out and bringing us home to be with Him.

• God’s grace will find you, and His grace will sustain you.

• When you are weak, He carries you. When you are in need, He provides.

Mephibosheth would not be able to reach the King; he could not walk.

• David’s men find him and carry him to the King.

• His handicap and his past left him feeling worthless and useless. He called himself “a dead dog” (v.8).

• But now he realises that he had value in the eyes of the King.

We have a value in the eyes of God. We are so precious to Him. I know that because He sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world to die for me.

• He died for my sin, so that I can be saved and be given “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).