During this LEARNING TO HEAR series I’m taking a different approach to these devotionals. I want to us work harder at searching the scriptures for ourselves. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily’ method below to help us with this. It’s well worth the hard work involved!
TODAY’S TEXT
‘When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour. David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’ ‘At your service,’ he replied. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ David said to him, ‘for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.’ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?’ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, ‘I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.’ (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)” (2 Samuel 9:6-10)
I’ve included my reflections on today’s text below. However, I encourage you to pray and spend time reflecting (writing can be helpful) using the 5 questions below before reading my thoughts.
i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?
ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?
iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?
iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?
v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.
MY REFLECTIONS
1. †GOSPEL
Do you see the gospel in this story? Do you see that we are all like Mephibosheth? We deserve nothing and yet the King invites us to eat at His table! David does this for the sake of Jonathan, The Father receives us for the sake of Christ who gave His life to save us.
2. UP
This shows us how God is generous. He takes the initiative to save and provide. It shows that He has the resources that we need for all aspects of our lives, both physical and spiritual.
3. IN
In this text, God speaks to us that we are invited to come and feast with Him - are we missing from the table? Have we stopped being with the Father and listening listening Him. Do you now hear Jesus’ invitation,
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
We were also reminded on Sunday that we have a new identity. We are no longer ‘a dead dog’. We’ve been raised up as children of God. ‘The old has gone and the new has come.’
4. OUT
Everyone, outside of Christ is Mephibosheth. Everyone needs mercy. Everyone needs to be invited to the table to eat with the King. On Sunday we were reminded that we must feast and enjoy if we are to recommend Jesus to others.
“They feast in the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” (Psalm 36:8)
5. DO? - Here are a few examples of application that I’ve come up with:
In response to this text, we could make sure that we are feasting on God’s presence by spending time with Him and listening to His voice.
We could be hospitable to people. As this Covid season ends, it’s really important that we love people through hospitality.
Do we need to throw off an old ‘dead dog’ identity and exchange it for our ‘child of God’ identity?
HEAR - Pray about how the Holy Spirit might want you to respond.
COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY
