Author Darlene J. Conard

The bond between David and Jonathan was unique! 1 Samuel 18:1-4 describes the friendship between David and Jonathan. “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.  And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. ³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.  And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. “Though the two were not blood by relation they were bonded through a covenant.

2 Samuel 9

Mephibosheth was injured at the age of five.  His nurse dropped him as she fled in panic permanently damaging his ankles.  News traveled that Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle with the Philistines.

Years later when David became king he asked, “Is there any descendants living of Saul’s that I may honor for the sake of Jonathan?” In those days it was a custom to destroy the former king’s bloodline. Jonathan’s son remained alive in Lo Zibo, which means the land of nothing.

Mephibosheth was summoned to court; I’m sure stricken with fear. It wasn’t a summonsing of condemnation instead, restoration. Everything he lost land, crops, and living in redemption. He would eat at the king’s table. “Why would a dead dog like me be offered to sit at the king’s table to eat with him?” (2 Samuel 9:8)

He no longer lived in a land called nothing but dwelt in Jerusalem. Ziba, who was Saul’s servant, had orders to farm Mephibosheth’s land and bring in the crops.  

He sat at King David’s table as a family member and he was treated with kindness, with love.

When the Lord gave me this I cried, I understood the message. God will take us out of the land of nothing, set us at his table, remove all the labels, and restore what was lost. It dawned on me that someone else’s mishap saved Mephibosheth’s life. He didn’t die because of his disability.

Whatever may be hurting you know that God is going to turn it all around for His glory!

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