Mephibosheth In Covenant (Part 1)

Sarah’s Corner

Volume 93-19, March 2019

www.thecarpenterschurch.org/sarahscorner

Mephibosheth

in

Covenant (Part 1)

Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.) 1 Now when he had >inished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore.

3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 12 Then Jonathan said to David: “The Lord God of Israel is witness! When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you, 13 may the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as He has been with my father.

14 And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die; 15 but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the Lord require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

17 Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

1 Samuel 20:12-17

In this article and the next, we will be exploring three things you need to know about the covenant that you have with God almighty.

A covenant is an agreement between two people or two parties and each person in the covenant has something that they have to do to make the covenant continue. Each party has to do something towards the covenant, and each one promises to keep their part of the covenant. As at the time David and Jonathan made this covenant, there were other people affected by this decision of theirs and they were their children, grand children or descendants because they were in their loins. That is why Jonathan told David not to cut off his kindness from his house forever… (2 Samuel 20:15). This means that David was under obligation because of his covenant with Jonathan to look out for his offsprings.

The Bible says in Hebrews 8:6, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises,” and Hebrews 12:24 says, “To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” As a child of God, you are in

covenant with God the Father because of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you; and it is an everlasting covenant.

God is not like any highly placed person you know. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the I Am that I Am and the covenant keeping God. This is because when Jesus died, you were in Him and when He rose again from the dead, you were also in Him. 1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

He said, “At your service!”

3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”

4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”

5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.

6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he answered, “Here is your servant!”

7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”

8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?” 9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.

10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had >ifteen sons and twenty servants.

11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”

12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth.

13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

2 Samuel 9:1-13

Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan. Remember that Jonathan went into a covenant with David. When this happened, Mephibosheth was in Jonathan’s loins, therefore a part of the covenant his father had with David. When David became king and was enjoying his kingdom, he remembered his covenant with Jonathan and asked if there was

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Sarah’s Corner

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any one left of the house of Saul, that he may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake (2 Samuel 9:1). Because of the covenant, he began to inquire about the descendants of his covenant partner. That is the power and strength of the covenant.

After the death of his grandfather and father, Mephibosheth ran away or his nurse escaped with him. The mental picture he had of David was a picture of a terrible man, but the same David now sends for him and says, “I want to show you kindness because of the covenant.”

The Bible says that he was brought out of Lo Debar.

The Covenant Will Bring You Out Of Lo Debar The >irst thing you should know about your covenant with God, is that it will bring you out of Lo Debar. What does Lo Debar mean? It means pastureless land or wilderness. Pasture, on the other hand is a nice green, soft meadow. When you enter into covenant with God, He will bring you out of Lo Debar, and out of Lo Debar means to be out of any wilderness or pastureless situation. David could have said, “So you have located one of the descendants of Jonathan. Okay, because of the covenant, bring my cheque book let me make a direct debit from my bank account. Every month, send one million naira to Mephibosheth while he is there in Lo Debar.” No, the Bible says that the >irst thing David did was to fetch him out of Lo Debar.

God does not want to make you a benevolence case. God does not want to be sending you help while you are still in your mess.

God’s help is designed to bring you out of your mess, to fetch you out of that confusion or that sin that has been your trademark. God wants to fetch you out of that poverty that has plagued your family.

He wants to bring you out of that barren wilderness and pastureless land.

Colossians 3:13 says that, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” ‘He’ referring to God. The New King James puts it this way, “He has conveyed us.” I can imagine that when David sent his servants to fetch Mephibosheth, he did not send someone to trek back with him. He must have sent the king’s chariots with the king’s escorts and right there at Lo Debar, the king’s chariots would have come and Mephibosheth would have been put in the best chariots of that time and taken to the king’s palace. God wants to convey you out of Lo Debar. That is why the Bible says in John 10:10 that Jesus came that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Recognise that you are in covenant to have abundant life and to have the best; not to settle for less than the best. It does not make you more holy to have less. In fact, you will be short-circuiting the covenant when you live below God’s best for you. God’s best for you is more than enough direction, divine health, prosperity, fruitfulness and so much more.

The Covenant Will Give You Access To The King Another thing that the covenant will do for you is that it will give you access to the King.

10 Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had >ifteen sons and twenty servants.

Volume 93-19, March 2019 11 Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons.

2 Samuel 9:10-11

Many times, you could see things in the society that you believe could be done differently, but you do not have access to the appropriate authorities to air your view. However, in the covenant you have direct access to the King - the One who created all things: the trees, He is the One who suspends the heavens and has put treasures beneath the deep. He is the One who created the womb to carry and bring forth lovely babies, above all, He is the covenant keeping God. He is the One you are in covenant with. When you gave your life to Christ, you got into that covenant relationship so you can walk right to Him. Your covenant has given you direct access to God. So instead of grumbling and complaining about the situation, you can walk boldly to the throne of grace.

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and >ind grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

You can knock on the door and say, “Jesus I’m in need and I’m here to obtain help in my time of need.” That is why even if you do not have access to your earthly king, God is higher than him and can in>luence him. You may not have direct access to the governor of your state, but there is somebody higher than him.

One day, somebody called my husband and said, “Ah ah, we don’t see you!” He could see him physically but he said that he was not seeing him. My husband then said, “Hold it! If you are talking about what I think you are talking about, I don’t do it.” The man said, “What are you talking about? That is not what I am talking about.” How did he know that what he was talking about was not what my husband was talking about? My husband then told one of his staff that, “If they ever ask you for money, tell them we are ready to walk away from any job if they ask for a bribe. In fact, tell them that we have walked away from a job before because we won’t bribe. Also let them know that we know people who are well placed, some very important people, and those very important people, if we tell them about their demands, they could be retired or better still >ired.” Why was my husband able to say this? Because he understood the access he had to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Child of God, you are in covenant with the One who knows everybody that needs to be known, and He is God almighty. Your covenant with Him has given you the greatest access of all.

Watch out for more on how your covenant with God gives you access to Him and therefore, the best that life has to offer.

The Carpenter’s Ministry: All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other, without the prior permission of the above.