So David said to
him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your
fathers sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather;
and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
2 Samuel 9:7
It is one thing to show love after the manor of normal
human interaction but is something else to express the nature of God through
the nature of our love. As a normal human being we show love to those who love
us, or to people who we feel are due our love because of their circumstance or
personality. God’s love in action should flow through us and find itself
expressed to those who are unlikely candidates. Love is an attitude not an
emotion. A mother could feel multiple emotions toward her child while her love
never wavers. A mother can feel anger, disappointment, joy, and fear toward her
child but her actions will still reflect her love. So it should be with us, our
attitude of love should not change with our feelings.
In the above scripture King David is showing love to the household
of Saul. Saul tried to kill him, murdered a family of priest when he thought
they were helping David and pursued David throughout the wilderness, making David’s
life and the life of his family a hardship. After God removed Saul from the kingship and
established David as king, David continually seeks to show kindness to the household
of his former enemy. David finds Saul’s grandson Mephibosheth, and restores to
him all of Saul’s former lands and property, and declares that he will eat at
his table continually as one of David’s sons. David without being asked
expressed God’s love to the household of Saul. In 2 Samuel 9:3 David asked; “Is
there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness
of God?” David is expressing the kindness of God not the kindness of a normal
human being.
Before David found him, Mephibosheth was living a poor existence
in someone else’s house in a town called Lo Debar. Lo debar literally means no
pasture. Do we show the kindness of God to those who may not deserve it? There
are Mephibosheths living in their own private Lo Debar who pass near and
through our lives every day. God’s love in action is when we show God’s
kindness to people, even when we think they do not deserve it, or even if they have
not asked for it or expect it.
We must show
kindness to Mephibosheth.
Next week: The Power of God’s Love
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