From Rags to Riches

 

II Samuel 9:3-65 And the king (David) said, “Is there no longer anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show the goodness and graciousness of God?” Ziba replied to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan, one whose feet are crippled.” Now when Mephibosheth was five years old, his father Jonathan was killed in battle. Fearing that the Philistines would seek to take the young boy's life, his nurse fled with him to Gibeah, but in her haste she dropped him and both of his feet were crippled. (2 Samuel 4:4.) His nurse or caregiver had been charged to protect him when he was much too young to help himself. But she dropped him and as a result, he was crippled for the rest of his life. He found refuge in a place called Lo-debar, which means a place of languishing. A place of just existing, barely hanging on. Stuck in nowhere. A place of weakness, without vigor or vitality. Nothing ever happened, just marking time.

My question to you is this: Did someone cripple you? Did someone drop you? Did someone make you fall? Was it your Dad or Mom? Maybe a wife or husband. A friend? Your boss? Someone at church? You may not have been five years old like Mephibosheth but you were powerless to help yourself in the situation. Have you been cheated of your destiny? Are you stuck in No-wheresville, relegated to a dull existence?

If you're fortunate enough to never have been dropped by someone you thought would protect you, you still took a fall. All of mankind fell with Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. We lost our inheritance, our right to reign on this earth.

Over the years, people had taken advantage of the crippled man's weakness and stolen his property. Has someone stolen from you? Christ Jesus came to restore what the enemy had taken from us in Adam's fall. He defeated Satan and reinstated man's authority to rule. All the land and possessions that belonged to Saul were restored to Mephibosheth. Suddenly the crippled man's enemies were very afraid because now he was under the protection of King David.

Mephibosheth is a type of the redeemed sinner, called into the kings presence and exalted on the merits of someone else. Though he had been victimized and robbed through the years, he was still of royal descent. Merciful King David rescued and restored him to the palace. Often the world doesn't recognize our value but we have a savior who calls us to return to our rightful place in Him. Like Mephibosheth, we can't stand on our own but in Him we live and move and have our being.

I say to you that your seat is reserved at the King's table. He's inviting you to come home.