God’s Kindness Is Amazing
2 Samuel 9:1–13
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
—A.W. Tozer
2 Samuel 9:1–13 (NIV)
1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“At your service,” he replied.
3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
7 “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.”
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
9 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.
10 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.)
11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.”
So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.
13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
1. God’s Kindness Doesn’t Make Sense
A. God Is Kind to His Enemies
2 Samuel 9:1 (NIV)
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 Samuel 9:3 (NIV)
The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Kindness: Elohim Hesed
Hesed: mercy, grace, love, loving-kindness.
B. God Is Kind to People Who Can Do Nothing for Him
2 Samuel 9:3 (NIV)
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
2 Samuel 4:4 (NIV)
Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel.
His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled.
His name was Mephibosheth.
2 Samuel 9:5–6 (NLT)
5 So David sent for him and brought him from Makir’s home. His name was Mephibosheth; he was Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson.
6 When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
Lo Debar: no pasture or barren place
2. God’s Kindness Shows Us Mercy
Mercy is God withholding the punishment we rightfully deserve
2 Samuel 9:5 (NLT)
So David sent for him and brought him from Makir's home. His name was Mephibosheth; he was Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect.
2 Samuel 9:6 (NIV)
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
Mephibosheth: “Shame” or “to breathe out shame”
2 Samuel 9:8 (NIV)
Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
2 Samuel 9:6–7a (NIV)
6 David said, “Mephibosheth!”
7a “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.”
1 Samuel 20:13a–15 (NIV)
13a May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father.
14 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed,
15 and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.
Titus 3:4–6 (NIV)
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
3. God’s Kindness Gives Us Grace
Grace: Is God lavishing unmerited favor on us
2 Samuel 9:7–10 (NIV)
7 David said to him, “I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
8 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.
9 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.
10 And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
2 Samuel 9:11b–13 (NIV)
11b So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.
13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.”
—John Newton, Amazing Grace
