2 Samuel 9:1-13 NKJV              

Without faith it is impossible to please God. While serving God you should identify the heart of God. Sometimes we have good thoughts and intentions which unfortunately may not correspond with the situations. Most of the time we want to please God but with a different heart from His. It is very important to understand the heart of God in everything we intend to undertake no matter how insignificant.

Mephibosheth was son of Jonathan and a grandson of King Saul. Jonathan was a close friend of King David and a very close confidant of the king with whom they had a covenant. Many things happened during the reign of King Saul, some good, some bad. King Saul depended on valiant soldiers and he surrounded himself with many of them. We see that even when David as a young boy killed goliath, Saul took him to serve under him. After his death, Jonathan left a son behind who was in care of a nanny. The boy was crippled as a result of being dropped by the nanny during their fight after learning of the death of king Saul and all members of his family, the non-combatants in the family feared that David would revenge himself on them because of the enmity between him and Saul. They didn’t know that there existed a covenant of peace between David and Jonathan.

 

When King David asked for any member of the Saul’s family to show kindness to they could not understand because they perceived David to be an enemy of the Saul’s family. Which was not the case, David, despite all the persecutions he went through during King Saul’s tenure, was not a one to hold a grudge or have harmful intentions towards Saul’s family, he had many opportunities to harm king Saul personally but refrained, he wished them well despite all. David was a small herd’s boy who knew the redeeming power of his God and he was not afraid of goliath while Saul was afraid of goliath and later David after the latter killed the former. King David in his whole life depended on God for help and never ounce relied on the men who were with him. That is the reason why he succeeded in all his endeavours.

 

King David wanted to bless any descendant of King Saul for the sake of Jonathan his friend. He didn’t mind who it was or whatever condition he/she was in, he wanted a descendant of Saul, not for the sake of Saul but Jonathan his friend. 

 

In the same way God wants to bless us despite what condition we’re in. He always wishes us well despite our sinful selves, when we examine the scripture in Genesis 6:5, 8; ‘Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually……But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.’’ No matter what we think we are, we should always see ourselves through the eyes of God and not our own eyes. Yes our minds are evil but when we acknowledge this fact, we receive grace in the eyes of our God.

 

Mephibosheth could not, in his wildest dreams, ever expect to eat at King’s table, David hated cripples 2 Samuel 5:  7, 8 and yet he took in Mephibosheth as a son to dine on his own table. God hates sin yet He sent His Son to this world so that He could bring sinners back to Him. John 3:16. We should make use of this opportunity and make good our relationship with God. We should always be willing and ready to live under grace as Mephibosheth. God’s intentions towards us is to bless us in more ways than one, Jeremiah 29:11.  Yet when we reflect on our weaknesses we fail. We should always seek the heart of God and not be controlled by our circumstances or situations. 

 

We need to understand and flow with the heart of God and His intentions for us. When we harden our hearts we miss the blessings and receive a curse instead. Mephibosheth did not understand the heart of King David, his relatives too and he had hidden long enough in Lo Debar at Machir’s house. Lo Debar means the house without a shepherd (Jesus is the true Shepherd) when we are separated from God we live a life that does not please God, we do as we like.

In fact we need to realize that even the life we live is not ours, Isaiah 43:21 ‘‘this people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.’’ NKJV.  God is confirming to us that we don’t even belong to ourselves but to Him with a purpose, His purpose, many are times we hear people saying “this is my life, and I will do what I like with it” how wrong they are!

 

Brethren let us not live like ignorant people but we should continuously strive to have our minds renewed by the Word of God and we should learn not to accept anything less than the best in this life because our master, the King of kings is extending His grace to touch our lives positively. Yes, situations and conditions might be crippling us right now but the heart of the King is to lift us from the bottom rung of existence to live and dine with the princes at His table.

 

Look beyond your situations, circumstances, stop existing miserably, just getting by with whatever the world has leftover and start living under you King’s roof because He wishes you well at all times, not of anything good you’ve done but out the covenant that He swore to your forefathers in faith, Abraham; Isaac and Jacob. Don’t look upon your lameness today but look upon the preffered grace, Romans 5:8 ‘‘For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly’’ embrace it and live the life you deserve, don’t look upon your inadequacies but look upon His redeeming goodness upon your life, you are the work of His hands, you have a mission to complete, to declare His praise.

 

You don’t declare God’s praise when you live a down trodden life; you don’t declare His praise when you just exist; you don’t declare His praise when live on leftovers; you don’t declare His praise when you just get-by; you don’t declare His praise while your speech is full defeatist talk or your attitude and demeanor are of somebody without a hope. When you live a life that is full of negativity you don’t declare God’s praises.

 

You declare His praise when your assignment is difficult but you say I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength. You declare His praise when you say yes I am hungry now but my God remains my Provider. You declare His praise when you say, I am in pain now but my God is my healer and by His strips I am healed. You declare His praise when you say I am broke now, but my Father owns all the silver and gold and at the appropriate time my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  This is the life of somebody whose burden has been taken away, his debts fully paid, somebody who chooses to rejoice in difficult situations because the life he lives is no longer his but Christ lives in him.

 

The list to the above is endless, what I am trying say is that the favor of God is upon all who are willing to forgo all their negative thoughts and live positively looking unto God day after day just as Mephibosheth forsook his lameness and comfortably adjusted to eating at the King’s table as a son.  Remember this is not about you or your strength but about your faith in His ability to fulfil His covenant in your life, seek His heart and move with it. Surrender your stubbornness and learn to live according the will of the King. God will bless them that are ready to stand and say, I am blessed when the whole world can not see what they are talking about, those are willing to move to another level when the world is lamenting on how the economy is bad; somebody who is willing and ready to live and posses the ends of the world because it belongs to their Master.  Are you one of them?

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This devotion is written by Pastor Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory Centre Nairobi-Kenya and brought to you courtesy of Journey to Joy Ministries International Inc. USA