When Dry Places Bloom

Introduction – The Place No One Chooses

Some stories in Scripture open like windows straight into the heart of God.

This is one of them. David, now king of Israel, has settled the kingdom. The battles are mostly over.

One day he asks a startling question:

“Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9:1)

That question sends us to a forgotten corner of Israel—a place called LoDebar—and to a man named Mephibosheth.

And it shows us what God’s covenant love does for every dry, hidden life.

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1. LoDebar: A Dry and Lonely Land

The name LoDebar means no pasture or no word.

It was a wasteland on the far side of the Jordan, a village people passed by without a second thought.

It was the kind of place you go to disappear.

That’s where Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s only surviving son, was living.

But how did the grandson of King Saul end up in such obscurity?

The Bible tells us:

“Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. As she made haste to flee, he fell and became lame.” (2 Samuel 4:4)

One moment he was a royal child with a future.

The next, tragedy struck.

A nurse stumbled in panic; a little boy’s legs were crushed; his life was changed forever.

Some of you know that feeling.

Sometimes we land in a dry place because of someone else’s mistake or fear—a drunk driver, a parent’s choices, a betrayal that shattered your plans. Other times it’s our own decisions that lead us there.

Lo-Debar is any season where joy dries up and hope seems out of reach.

It can look like:

• A long illness that wears down your spirit.

• Financial strain that keeps you awake at night.

• A family conflict that no amount of words has healed.

• A spiritual drought where prayer feels like silence.

Almost everyone will spend some time in Lo-Debar.

And when you’re there, you can begin to believe that barrenness is all there is.

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2. Remembering the King’s Table

Mephibosheth had not always lived this way.

He was born a prince—the grandson of King Saul and the son of Jonathan. He had eaten at the royal table as a child. He knew the sounds of music and laughter, the shimmer of gold vessels, the fragrance of roasted lamb and fresh bread.

Now he survived on crumbs in a forgotten village.

Every morning he must have felt the weight of contrast:

I once sat at the king’s table. Now I barely get by.

Maybe you understand.

You remember a time when joy was strong, when Scripture seemed alive, when worship was a feast for your soul.

Now life feels reduced to scraps and routine.

But don’t overlook the quiet mercy in those “crumbs.”

The very fact that Mephibosheth was still alive in Lo-Debar meant God was sustaining him.

Sometimes grace comes as a banquet; sometimes it comes as daily bread.

Either way it is God’s way of saying, I have not forgotten you. I still know your name.

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3. A Covenant Remembered

What Mephibosheth could not see was that his name was being spoken in the palace.

Years earlier, when David and Jonathan were young men,

“Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.” (1 Samuel 18:3)

They pledged loyalty, exchanged garments and weapons, and sealed the promise with a sacred oath before God.

Jonathan was now gone, but the covenant still lived in David’s heart.

That is why David asked,

“Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

David’s search for Jonathan’s son was not a political gesture; it was covenant faithfulness.

And that is exactly how God deals with us.

Long before you and I were born, the Father made a covenant of redemption through Jesus Christ.

At the cross that covenant was sealed in blood.

Even when we feel forgotten, He remembers the promise and calls us by name.

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4. The King Who Sends for the Broken

When David hears that Jonathan’s crippled son lives in Lo-Debar, he does not send instructions for Mephibosheth to clean up and make the long journey to Jerusalem.

He sends a royal escort. “Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from LoDebar.” (2 Samuel 9:5)

Picture that moment. The king’s soldiers knock on a humble door.

Mephibosheth, lame and hidden for years, hears hoofbeats and wonders if judgment has finally come.

In that culture a new king might wipe out the old dynasty. He must have thought, This is the end of me.