A dead dog no longer.

Scripture:
2 Samuel 9:8 “Then he bowed himself, and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?’”

Observation:
David had made a pact with Jonathan in their youth to love and uphold each other’s families no matter what. After the death of Saul and Jonathan, the children of Saul were in danger of murder. Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, had been whisked away by his nanny to safety in the town of Lo Debar. When David learned that his best friend’s son lived, David wanted to honor him with the love he shown Jonathan. Mephibosheth didn’t know how to respond to David’s kindness because he was a grandson of David’s enemy, Saul, and was a cripple.

Application:
When I read this verse today, I imagined myself in heaven before the throne of God. A repentant sinner, now son of the living God, I bowed before the Almighty unable to look him in the face because of his glory alone. You might say I had the same reaction as Isaiah in his vision. There I am in heaven humbled and bowing before God.

Introspectively I think of my past and the wrong I have done over time. I sense an unworthiness come over me because I am in the midst of the Creator and Ruler of the universe. I think of myself as being in the same state as Mephibosheth was in David’s presence, “Lord, what is your servant, that you should look upon a worm as I?”

I don’t feel worthy of God’s love, mercy, and grace, and by all means I am not. He extends them to me out of the goodness of his heart. Because I was born in sin, I deserved to die and be sent to the same fate as the devil. However, the gracious One chooses to allow me to live and offers me a free gift – eternal salvation – through the blood his Son, Jesus, shed on the cross.

I now sense my Father looking at me and telling to rise from my crouched position. He extends his loving hand out to mine and takes me in his arms. He calls to me and says for me to come and sit on his lap. I oblige and gleefully and willingly climb onto his lap and soak up the awesomeness all around me. I feel content, peaceful, accepted, wanted, loved, redeemed, forgiven, and no longer unworthy.

In the same vein, David extended grace to Jonathan’s son and allowed him to dine at his royal table daily. Mephibosheth was treated as if he were David’s own son. He had been adopted into the family one might say. He had reason to be happy and sing and no longer feel like a dead dog. He had been given a sense of renewed purpose and being despite his physical limitations.

When God accepted me and offered me the keys to the kingdom, I too, had reason to live and feel good about me again. It is not a matter of what I have done, but it is a matter of what God did. He provided for me. He gave his Son for me. He loved me. He restored me. I could have done none of these things. Mephibosheth could have done nothing for himself either; David did for him what he couldn’t do himself.

We have to learn to be thankful for what God has done in our lives and the transformations that brought us back to life from being dead dogs living in sin. We were bound for eternal death for sure, but God loved us so much that he made a way for us to be redeemed and to be able to sit at the king’s banquet table for eternity.

Prayer:
Father, Solomon wrote a love poem to his love that spoke of his setting a place for her at his banquet table. He raised a banner over her proclaiming his love for her. In fact that banner was love. It reminds of David’s words that we hide in the shadow of your wings. The whole idea of being held in my Father’s arms and feeling your love gives me a sense of security and peace in my spirit, soul and body. When I first came to you many years ago, I was nothing more than a worm and dead dog unworthy of your love, mercy, and grace. You loved me more than I loved me. You chose to redeem me and set me free from my sin and past. You gave me live and restored my soul to like new, nay; you made me a new creature in you and abolished the old ways. Thank you for turning my life around and giving me purpose and the ability to say what Paul said, “We live and move and have our being in Christ.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.