Grace for a Dead Dog

"Again he prostrated himself and said, 'What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?'" (2 Samuel 9:8)

Now I'll be the first to admit that the image of a "dead dog" is not a very palatable picture to bring to your minds, beloved! But there really is nothing else that I can use to make the glorious point that we find here in the words of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, to David, king of Israel. So why did this grown son of David's best friend refer to himself in such a manner? And what can we learn about the grace of God from what transpired between the king and the son of his dearest friend?

The reason why Mephibosheth called himself a "dead dog" when lying prostrate before King David we find in the closing words of this chapter - "Now he was lame in both feet." Mephibosheth had been dropped by his nurse when she had learned of the deaths of Jonathan and Saul and that fall had left him permanently crippled (4:4). To Mephibosheth, then, he was about as good as a "dead dog"!

In this chapter we discover a marvelous picture of God's love for us as sinners, of His unmerited favor shown to us in Jesus Christ. David owed the house of Saul absolutely nothing, yet he chose to show favor to the grandson of the former king because of his love for Jonathan. Did you know that what God has done for us He has done because of who Jesus Christ is and because of His love for Him?

And where was Mephibosheth finally located? He was found in a place called "Lo-debar" whose name loosely translated means "desert place" or "wasteland." Where did Jesus Christ find us but lost in the domain of darkness and of sin? And from that domain He called us in love, much like the way that David sent for Mephibosheth and had him ushered into his royal presence.

What did David do for this helpless cripple once he had him lying prostrate before him? He chose to restore to him all that his grandfather had possessed and to make it his own. Though it rightly belonged to David as king, he willingly chose to give it to Mephibosheth and his family. In the same way God has made us "heirs" of all that is His and "fellow heirs" with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are forever part of God's family and it is all because of His decision to extend that gracious invitation to each one of us.

Finally, David invited Mephibosheth to dine permanently at the king's table as one of his own sons. He was made to become a member of the royal family! He who had been eking out a living in Lo-debar with no future and no hope from that moment on sat at the king's table under the king's loving and watchful eye, belonging there as surely as if he had been David's own biological son. You and I do not deserve what God has done for us in Christ, beloved, but we most certainly do belong at God's table! One day we shall sit down with the Lord Jesus Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb. What a glorious day that will be!

This ninth chapter closes with the reminder concerning Mephibosheth that "he was lame in both feet." Perhaps those words bringing this paragraph to a close serve as a wonderful reminder for you and me that, in and of ourselves, we too are each a "dead dog" spiritually. We are all "lame in both feet"! And as we remember that fact as we live from day to day, perhaps we will better and more faithfully give God all the glory for His amazing grace so undeserved by us, yet so full and rich and free in our lives.

Ron