I was preparing for a lesson recently and I stumble over something that I couldn’t get around. It was almost as if God wanted me to see it and once I did I couldn’t let it go. The reason is because it is such a truthful statement and so the heart of God and to be real it’s all the He wants from us. It’s all that He wants us to remember.
In the Old Testament, there are 2 men named David and Jonathan and we first meet these men in 1 Samuel. Jonathan is the eldest son of King Saul. King Saul was the first king of Israel and was chosen by a man named Samuel. Saul was made king at the request of Israel because they wanted a king like other nations had. So Jonathan then was heir to the throne because he was Saul’s eldest son. David was one of the 7 sons of Jesse. When it didn’t work out for Saul as king, God sent Samuel on a hunt for the next king. Samuel ultimately chose David to be the next king of Israel. But David didn’t take the throne right then and there. He actually took the throne when he was 30 years old.
But in spite of all of that, Jonathan and David became good friends - very good friends. Jonathan even aided David when Saul was trying to kill him. But Jonathan and David reminded good friends. However, both Saul and Jonathan die in battle and David is made king of Israel [1].
Now it is customary for a new king to wipe out all of the previous kings family. This seems like a crazy step today, but back then it was done to keep the previous king’s family from rising up against the new king to take the throne back. In David’s case, this was even more true for him because of the way he became king. He wasn’t an heir of Saul so he really wasn’t next in line for the throne. However, we see something truly amazing in 2 Samuel 9.
2 Samuel 9 opens with David asking if there were any members of Saul’s family left. At that moment, I bet the room started to buzz because they knew what David could yo any one that was still alive in Saul’s family. But as the people in the room might have been thinking this David goes on and says “to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”[2] I can image a hush coming over the room as David said that. David then found out that a servant named Ziba was still alive and David sent for him. When Ziba arrived, David said this to Ziba:
“The king asked, ‘Isn't anyone left from the royal house of Saul? God has been very kind to me. I would like to be kind to someone in the same way.’”- 2 Samuel 9:3 NIRV
Ziba then tells David that Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth was still alive. David sent for Mephibosheth and took him in and care for him.
I want to focus in on David’s response in verse 3. David wanted to be kind to anyone left in Saul’s house - not because of Saul being nice to him. He didn’t want to be kind to anyone left in Saul’s house because Jonathan was kind to him - although that had some to do with it. He wanted to be kind to anyone left in Saul’s house because GOD HAD BEEN VERY KIND TO HIM! David sat there on his throne knowing that he had all power and authority in the nation of Israel and he decided to show who God is. He decided to be kind to a family member of a man who tried to kill him on many occasions, because God has been kind to him.
What if we just let that sink in? What if we just let that thought process infiltrate our mind? What if we just looked at some one who deserves nothing from us and chose to be kind to them?
Because God did that for us - that’s why!
We did not and still don’t deserve anything from God. We don’t deserve His love. We don’t deserve His kindness. We don’t deserve anything that He has done for us. We don’t. And sometimes there are people in our lives that don’t deserve it either.
But I think what God wanted us hear and see in this one verse is that - our love and kindness toward people shouldn’t be because they deserve it. We should show love and kindness toward people who don’t deserve it - because God showed it us - first.
“But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am.” - 1 Corinthians 15:10 MSG
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[1] 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1, 2 Samuel 5.
[2] 2 Samuel 9:1
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