There's a man in the Old Testament with a name quite tough to pronounce. Mephibosheth was a nobody, living in obscurity, lame in both feet. Tragically, he expected to be executed. Instead, a king invited him to the royal table for life. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl says his story is actually our story.
Because grace isn't God helping those who help themselves. It's God seeking out the helpless, the sinful, the enemy, meeting us with arms wide open. Today's message on God's grace is part of Chuck's 12-part series called How Great is Our God. Today, on the grace of God, we're going to look at. Mephibosheth.
2 Samuel chapter 9. David has come to the throne. His predecessor, King Saul, has died. The family of Saul have fled away, though David exterminated none of them. But when Saul died, Ziba His servant As well as a a nurse who was helping with the children, Took up this little boy, Mephiboshev, and ran for their lives to hide.
In the running she dropped him. And he was crippled. Both his feet.
Now, that's the background of the story Mephibosheth here in 2. Samuel 9. And uh David is now in his palace. And David, as he's sitting and musing, remembers a promise. Before his dear friend Jonathan died in the same battle as Saul, his father, had died in.
David promised Jonathan he would take care of his family. Jonathan said, just make that covenant with me. And David said, I promise. Suddenly, the promise comes back to his mind, and he thinks, I've got to make that promise good. Because of his relationship with his friend Jonathan and Jonathan's father Saul.
King David initiates an act of grace. Look at it.
So David said, Is there yet any one left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Think of grace. Grace. Grace. God's treatment, sovereign, free, sovereign.
Favor to the ill deserved. Is there anyone to whom I might show Free sovereign favour?
So he meets a man named Ziba, who is from the house of Saul. Ezeba said, I know where there is one, and I'm just a servant, but Verse three concludes There's still a son of Jonathan. David. He's a cripple. He's disabled.
It's a sensitive point, but we need to stay here at the text long enough for you to feel it. What is Eva thinking? David. Look around. This is a place for the Yeah.
the brightest and the best. You need those with high SAT scores. You need those with IQs that are almost off the chart. You need the tall and handsome and bronze. From the sun.
You need warriors. This fellow I have in mind is a He's crippled in both feet. By the way, Ziba overlooked one word that David used. Is there anyone? Ha ha ha ha.
Is that good or what?
Sometimes I'm in my study and I'll go and I'll go, is that good or what? And I just kind of, nobody's around.
So I say, yeah, that's good. This is one of those moments. Is there anyone? Put your name there. I put mine there.
Is there anybody? Zeeba. That I can show grace to. I'm doing it for Jonathan. I'm not handing out a Life Achievement Award.
This is about grace. Zebo didn't get it.
Well, there's a Fellow's crippled on both his feet. Don't you love David's response? Where is he? He doesn't say, now you think he'll ever get better? Or Um Does he like walk with crutches or?
Can he get around without somebody being there to help him? You and I do that. Because we're sinful. And proud. And we're not disabled, we think.
We're all disabled. That's where I'm going. I just can't wait to get there, so I'm going to tell you the end of it before I get there. We're all disabled. I mean The king says Where is he?
Yeah.
Well, he's uh living in Loda Bar. It's a little ambiguous, by the way, in the Hebrew. It's hard to trace what that word means. Geographical locations often had etymologies that were interesting and symbolic. The word lo in Hebrew always means no.
Yeah.
But Dabar. debatable.
Some suggest it means pasture, as in no pasture land a barren place, he's living in a wilderness. I like the the one that seems a little more reliable. He's living in a no place. We would say the ghetto. Mm-hmm.
The dump. You can't use it nowadays. There's a place. named a dump here where you buy things, but Forget that. That fouled up my illustration all of a sudden.
I realize it. But the kind of jump you thought of when you were kids, okay? He lives in the ghetto. He's a nothing. Living in a no place.
A friend of mine said, I was so far out in the country we had to go toward town to hunt. That's where Mephibosheth was living. David. The guy's a nobody. Living nowhere.
David says go get him. You know why? Because it's grace. Yeah.
That's why he didn't miss you. Or me. You're getting it, aren't you? There are times it overwhelms me. It literally overwhelms me.
That he would choose. I'm so in this story I can hardly believe it. Analogy number one, write it down. David, out of sheer Grace. Extended his love.
to a nobody. Just as God, in sheer grace, Extended it to you and me. Where is he? Go get him.
Okay.
Now the story gets really good.
Okay, said Ziva. We'll go get him. Verse 5. The king sent and brought him from the house of Macer the son of Amiel from no place. You imagine Mephibosheth?
Mafia Sheth, we know you're in there. Thus He sees the horses outside. He sees the chariot. That's come from the king's palace. What are they going to do?
What would you think? You're gonna kill me. The nurse who had carried him and dropped him when she was running from the new king. And he became lame on both his feet. She's now nervous.
But you can't hold back the king's guard. The door bolts open. The king wants to see you, dear Mebusheth. And uh he pulls his crutches under his arms and Clump. Scrape.
Five. Scrape. They help him into the chariot. Yeah.
Second analogy. Write it down. Just as David sought and found this. undeserving man So God sought and found us. David said, Where is he?
And he sent people to find him. Verse 5, and they found him. Just as God found you and God found me, He pursued us. He, in the words of a poet, Set the hounds of heaven against us. You remember their bark?
Hmm. Remember when they were nipping at your heels? Remember when you thought you could outrun him? Or out foxing? No one said Mefibasheth.
Clean yourself up. Take a shower. You're getting ready to go before the king. Come now. Just as you are.
Come on, Mafibuchette.
So, with gentleness, they take him to the chariot. He's never in his life been in a chariot. There's a wonderful story of how they rescued the Jews over in Israel. The Jews had come from Africa. And they had never seen any place but where they were living.
and to preserve their lives. Israel flew planes in and picked up These dear people. These Africans. And they put them on the plane for the first time in their life. Yeah.
They're sitting on a plane. They take off. Can you imagine? Then they land them in Israel. Free.
Free. How gracious of that country How gracious of David, how gracious of our God to take us from the ghetto of our existence and put us on his. Chariot.
Now he stands before the king. Can you imagine how scared he must have been? Verse 6: Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face. And he prostrated himself. That means he fell on his face, face down.
belly touching the floor. Absolutely flat, prostrated before the king. David said in Mephibosheth? He said, Here is your servant. He's probably thinking it's curtains.
And David says to him, verse 7, do not fear. Do not fear. I will surely show chesed to you, I will show grace to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. Yeah.
How good did that sound? About like When you heard it, Don't fear. I didn't die to ruin your life. I died to rescue you. Here's the third analogy.
As David restored this man to a place of honor. God has done that for us. If he would give us what we deserve, you don't even want to know what the place looks like. would give new meaning to the word ghetto. There would be breath taken from your lungs before you could take a third or fourth.
Deep breath. But God doesn't do that. He restores us to a place of honor, how great of him! That's called grace. And don't you love this?
Verse 7 continues, And will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall eat at my table regularly. Meaning, what? He's adopting him. Fourth analogy. As David adopted Mephibosheth from his place of emptiness.
So God has adopted us into His forever family.
Now you're mine. Yeah.
Don't you know if Method Bisheth must have thought, if not said? Look, look. King David. Look at me.
Okay.
Look at me.
There are thousands of others you could choose. Look at me.
I love the humility of Mephibosheth. He just bows before the king and bows before. There is no pride, there is only amazement. And David says, now you're mine.
Now you're under my care. You're not going to drop in for a snack once a month. You're one of my own. There's a chair for you. There's a place for you.
He tells Ziba all about it. He says, We're going to set this up so that his land will be his. Saul's land will be brought to his grandson. It's all going to work out great. Ziba says, Yes, sir, we'll do it that way.
Verse 11: So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons. Pause and think. Pause and think. One of the king's sons. Is that alongside Solomon?
Is that alongside Absalom? Who, by the way, was handsome from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. Set alongside Tamar? Absalom's blood sister. Killiab Probably Joab came in for a meal rather often.
The chair's empty? They wait for him to come, the dinner bell rings, everybody's at the table. Cho. Scrape. So Scrape.
Chunk. Scrape. And the tablecloth covered his feet. Hmm. That's also a great thought.
And I said in my study, ooh, that's good. And there was nobody around to say that is good. The tablecloth. covered his feet. How good is that?
Surrounded by this royalty and this nobody from nowhere. Is sitting at the king's table. That brings us to the fifth. Methiboshev's disability was a constant reminder. of the king's grace.
Just as Mephiboshev's disability was a constant reminder of the king's grace, so our. disabilities. Remind us of that, our failures, our faults. Our times have coming up short. I mean, we're still undeserving.
We're still insufficient and weak and. in spite of all of that, were one of his. We've been adopted and we eat regularly at the king's table. How's the meal this morning? You're feasting at his table.
But you don't need to be here to feast. You can feast at his table tomorrow afternoon. Or late tonight. Our next Saturday morning. His word is open.
and truth flows like great food from a banquet hall. How gracious of our God. I love it that he says you will. you will be verse 11 You will eat as one of the king's sons. The end of that verse.
Look at that. Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons. By the way, he wasn't instantly healed. He was never healed. Take note of that.
People have the idea that they'll bargain with God, they'll come to God if he'll heal them. You're never going to be healed of sin. We're forgiven of sin, but we're never told we're healed of sin. Oh, that comes when we move into eternity. When we die the sin thing is over.
Until then we've got the disability. Number six. When he sat at the king's table, there was no status or rank. in the family. They were all the kings.
Sons and Daughters.
Okay.
Yeah.
You want a great thought? They're sitting at the supper table, and David says to Mephibosheth. Whom did you ask the blessing? Hmm. probably would be nothing but weeping.
Oh God. How gracious you are. to find me when I wasn't even looking. and to give me a place at the table of the king. Yeah.
Another great thought.
Someday we'll be at a table like that. And nobody will say, hey, that's Foster Paul's seat. Don't sit there. Might not Peter see, don't you know that the pecking order? Paul, Peter.
That's James C. That's Martin Luther's seat. You sit down at the table? Sit down, Brother Martin. There's a stool over there.
Okay.
He sit right down. Or some great church father, or some great author you've read, or some great. Singer. of yesteryear. Or your mom or daddy.
Somebody who meant the world to you. They're waiting for you at the table. Final thought. You know how we'll often say, there's an old saying, when you see someone that's in trouble, there, but for the grace of God, go I. When I think of Mephibosheth.
I think there, because of the grace of God, go I. Why? Because we are all disabled. May God never let us forget Mephibosheth. And every time you are with someone disabled, think of Mephibosheth.
There will be no place for impatience. Misunderstanding. Expectations they can't keep up. You wait for them. You encourage them.
You'll love them. You show grace to them. Just like Cory Tinboom. when she shook his hand. Let's bow our hearts together.
How great of the king to reach out. to one who really was undeserving. How great of God to send His Son for you And for all of us, lame, awkward. backward broken inconsistent, unloving. Unkind.
impatient. profane. Vile. But we have a place at the table.
Okay.
Your chair is empty if you've never trusted Christ, and today's the day to reserve your spot. I urge you to do that. Thank you, Father, that in the shattered condition of both mind and body. This man was found. And his lameness and awkwardness never turned the king away.
How great is our God. How full of grace. Forgive us for even the moment of pride. or arrogance or impatience. And remind us, Lord, in our load of our existence.
that you have graciously Chosen us. to be yours. Father, thank you for your grace to us and. Your mercy that is new every morning. Thank you for loving us even though we are By nature, Forever.
helpless and sinful and rebellious. Thank you for looking through and beyond all of that, and by your grace. Choosing us. and using us. How humbled we are today to acknowledge that we identify best with Mephibosheth.
End of story. Keep us from ever forgetting that. In the name of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, Christ. who though he was rich Yet for our sakes. became poor.
that we through his poverty might be rich. Even Jesus, we pray. Everyone said Uh Amen. David didn't search for the brightest, the strongest, or the most deserving. He asked, is there anyone?
and Grace found a nobody in a no name place, lame, forgotten, and afraid. and seated him at the king's table as one of his own sons. That's the gospel in a story. We didn't earn our share. Neither did Mephibosheth.
And if today's message stirred something in you, Chucksmindahl's Bible study tools will help you go deeper into the grace that found you. Just before we hear a closing word from Chuck, let me remind you that Insight for Living has assembled a bundle of resources for this 12-part series on the attributes of God. The series is called How Great Is Our God. It includes the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook and all 12 audio messages in the series. All the details for ordering them can be found online at insight.org/slash offer.
I'll tell you about a brand new resource written by Chuck in just a moment. It's called The Cross We Proclaim. Stay with us for more details. And now, here's Chuck. You know for almost twenty years a colleague of mine did the same thing every single Sunday.
Right before I stepped up to preach, Howie would lean over and whisper a few words into my ear. the same words every time. Preach grace, Chuck. Preach the cross. Oh, my I can still hear his voice.
And here's what I've learned. After more than sixty plus years of standing behind a pulpit, Those four words are the whole ball game. Everything else is just noise. The cross isn't a decoration. It isn't the introduction to a better topic.
It is the topic. Always has been, always will be. The Apostle Paul said it plainly, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's not a modest man underselling himself. That's a brilliant man who finally understood what actually changes people.
not cleverness, not rhetoric, not a carefully crafted performance. The cross, just the cross. That's why Insight for Living exists, not to put on a good broadcast, not to win awards or grow an audience, but to make sure that.
Somewhere In a car, in a kitchen, on a phone, on a computer screen, halfway around the world, someone has a genuine, life-altering encounter with the cross we proclaim.
Now, June 30th marks the end of our fiscal year. And I want to invite you, personally, to become part of what happens next. When you send a gift to Insight for Living, you're not just supporting a ministry, you actually have one. Your generosity is what casts the seed of God's word into places I will never go and reach people I will never meet. That's not small.
That's extraordinary. Would you give today generously, sacrificially, joyfully? Join me in giving the cross. our very best. As a tangible expression of our gratitude for your gift, we'd like to send you a brand new booklet from Chuck Swindahl.
It's called the Cross We Proclaim. We published this booklet to coincide with Chuck's teaching series on the attributes of God. You know, we live in a world that's obsessed with image, credentials, and making impressions. In his booklet, Chuck says there's a better way to live, and it begins at the foot of the cross, where all the ground is level. By reading the cross we proclaim, you'll find the freedom that comes when you stop managing your reputation and start resting in what Christ accomplished.
To give a donation and request a copy of the cross we proclaim, call us at 800-772-8888. Or to send a check in the mail along with your request for the booklet, just address the envelope to InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas, 75034. You can also go to insight.org/slash donate.
Join us when Chuck unpacks one of the most magnificent passages Paul ever wrote about Christ. Tuesday on Insight for Living. Yeah.
The preceding message, The Grace of God, was copyrighted in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
