We Respond to God’s Kindness as He sends people to Bring us to Himself to Enjoy Him

David sent men to bring Mephibosheth from Lo-debar, a place without grass or pasture, even as God sent people to find us and bring us back to Himself to enjoy Him as our portion.

This endearing story of David remembering Jonathan, his friend, and wanting to care for anyone who still is from the house of Jonathan, and then getting Mephibosheth and caring for him, it is so sweet.

Mephibosheth had no ground to receive grace or even to be alive, but the king graced him and brought him to his table; in the same way, we had no right to enjoy God because we were sinners and even dead in sins, but because of Christ, we can now come forward to God.

It may have been that Mephibosheth thought that he had to stay away from King David, even as far away as possible, because if the king found out of his existence, he would be a dead man.

Similarly, we thought that we were so sinful, so pitiful, and so far away from God that, if God found out about us and came close to us, we were doomed.

But David’s heart toward Mephibosheth was full of kindness and tenderness; he didn’t condemn Mephibosheth but rather, sought him out and brought him to his own table, and he restored to Mephibosheth the land that his father had.

God’s heart toward us is full of love and kindness; our God is a God of kindness, and the kindness of God has reached us.

We may have thought that God is out to get us, and He’s just waiting for us to fail so that He would punish us.

Actually, such thoughts come from the devil, the one who is really afraid of God and who accuses God in our mind.

God is full of kindness and love, and His attitude toward us is full of tenderness and care; He is not judging us but rather, He receives us and wants us to eat with Him and enjoy Him.

God loved us so much – He loved each one of us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that He would die for us so that, by believing into Him, we would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Day by day, even after being saved, God is still kind toward us, and His kindness leads us to repentance.

As we live our daily Christian life, we have many failures, but God doesn’t judge us or condemn us – He is simply waiting for us to come to Him, and many times He even goes out of His own way to come to us and tenderly care for us.

Though in ourselves we have no position to be at His table, enjoying His riches, or have any possession among the people of Israel, yet because of Christ, we are now qualified to sit at His table, enjoy all that He is, and partake of Him with the saints.

God Himself qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Col. 1:12).

In His Kindness, God sent People to Bring us to Himself, out of a Place without any Life Supply to His Rich Table

Mephibosheth lived in a place called, Lo-debar, a Hebrew word meaning “a place without grass, without pasture” (2 Sam. 9:4). Today, the world is a “Lo-debar”.

All sinners today live in Lo-debar, a place with no pasture, no grass, a place that is dry, parched, desolate, and even a wasteland.

People in the world think they can be satisfied by pursuing this or that career, by achieving this or that dream, but nothing can satisfy them; rather, it’s all vanity, a mirage.

Man’s hunger cannot be satisfied by the world, and man’s thirst can never be quenched by what the world has to offer.

We were created for God, not for ourselves; though Satan – the ruler of this world – is doing his best to trick us, deceive us, and usurp us through the things of the world, nothing apart from God can satisfy us.

We may have dreamed that our future will be so beautiful and restful, and we may work really hard to achieve it; after a while, however, we discover that it is not real.

The promises of this world are like unusable currencies; once you seem to achieve something, it is useless.

The world brings man only discouragement and disappointment; it puts men into a dream, and everything is a mirage and a dry place without grass.

Outwardly people seem to be happy, but inwardly they are empty and dissatisfied.

Even as believers, if we pursue anything in the world, a career or a higher position in society or at work, we will realize that nothing here satisfies.

Nothing outside of God can satisfy us; a life outside of God can never satisfy us.

We all were like Mephibosheth who ran away from David to a place without grass, a place without supply.

All sinners are far away from God, living in a place without any supply. Even worse, sinners don’t even dare to come close to God, just as Mephibosheth didn’t contact David at all.

But praise the Lord, He sends men to bring us to Himself!

Just as David sent some men to Mephibosheth to bring him to himself out of Lodebar, so God sends out people to bring us to Himself.

The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which is lost (Luke 19:10).

Though there’s no one who seeks God – not even one (Rom. 3:11), yet our God stepped out of eternity into time to seek us, those who were lost.

Some people think they are really evil, so they are not qualified to seek God; they try to better themselves and then they could seek after God.

But this is not how it works; it is God who reaches out to us. If God were to wait for us to come and seek Him before He would save us, this would probably never happen, for no one seeks after God.

Mephibosheth didn’t seek after David; rather, David sent men to fetch Mephibosheth and bring him to himself.

We did not seek after God; rather, He sent people to bring us to Himself, out of a place of no supply to the enjoyment of His riches in His house.

We may have thought that, after we become better people, we could seek after God, and He will be impressed with our efforts, so He will forgive our sins; then, we could be saved.

But thank the Lord, no man can go to heaven to ask the Lord to die for us, and no one can go to Hades to ask Him to resurrect from the dead (Rom. 10:6-7); rather, He comes to us and He reaches us.

He has come to us and He has become so available to us – He is the word, near to us, even in our mouth and in our heart, for if we confess Jesus Christ as Lord, we are saved (vv. 8, 10).

We all can testify that this was and is our experience; God sent men to speak the word to us and bring us to Himself, and we just responded to the gospel.

We were not qualified or even interested, but when we heard the Lord’s call through the gospel, we just responded.

We didn’t do much: we just responded and confessed, and He forgave our sins, gave us the gift of forgiveness of sins, reconciled us to Himself, and brought us into the enjoyment of His riches, restoring us to our rightful possession.

Even though sometimes even today, as believers, we may drift to a wasteland, a place without supply and without grass, the Lord still sends men to bring us to Himself.

He may even use us to go and express the kindness of God toward those in Lo-debar, those who are far away from God but whom He wants to call into the enjoyment of Himself.

As we enjoy the kindness of God, as we allow Him to nourish us with Himself and constitute Himself into us, we ourselves become one with Him to go out and bring the kindness of God to those in Lo-debar.

Thank You, Lord, for reaching us and sending men to bring us to Yourself, out of a place of no supply to Your rich table. Thank You for coming to us where we are to bring us out of a place of no life supply, a dry place, to the place where we can enjoy You with the saints. Hallelujah, we are now in the house of God as those who are qualified by God to partake of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion. Thank You, God, for Your kindness; thank You for Your mercy reaching us and Your kindness bringing us to Yourself. Make us one with You today in our daily living so that we may express the kindness of God to others. Live in us today, Lord, and be expressed as the kindness of God toward those living in a dry wasteland. May many sinners living in the world hear the Lord’s voice and come to Him. May many backsliding saints be reached by the merciful and kind God through the members of the Body of Christ to be brought back into the enjoyment of Christ and back to their rightful inheritance of God.

Hearing God’s Call, being Touched by His Kindness, and Responding to Come to Him and Enjoy Him

I am very touched to see that Mephibosheth didn’t seek after David, not even to ask for forgiveness or for the king to spare his life; rather, it was David the king who sent men to fetch Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 9:4-5).

We know the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 who, when he reached the lowest point and was eating the food meant to be given to the pigs, came to his senses and decided to return to his father’s house and ask to be one of his servants.

Mephibosheth was even worse: he did not even seek after David; rather, David sent men to fetch him and bring him to his house.

This is similar to the situation we see in Genesis after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and were waiting for God to come and punish them.

Instead of God sending fire and brimstone on Adam and Eve, He came and asked, Where are you?

Adam and Eve were waiting for the sentence of death, but God came to preach the gospel to them and save them from their fall.

The first word of the gospel that God preached to man was, Where are you?

This was not God pronouncing judgment; it was the opening word of the glad tidings.

God is not an angry God who smashes everyone who upsets Him or doesn’t obey Him; He is a loving God, a God of kindness, and He reaches us and asks us, Where are you?

He doesn’t want us to hide from him but rather, just hear His call, be touched by His kindness, and respond to come to Him and enjoy Him.

God may not speak to us from heaven directly in an outward way, but He sends men who are one with Him to bring us to Himself, and if we just respond by coming to Him, we enter into the enjoyment of all that He is.

He knows us by name; He knows our situation, our real condition, and everything that we have done. He knows our thoughts, our hearts, and even the hidden things that we don’t tell anyone about.

However, He doesn’t condemn us; He simply calls us by name, He speaks our name when we come to Him, and we sense His kindness.

When we hear God’s call and are touched by His kindness, we realize there’s no judgment there; there’s no condemnation or criticism – there is only His kindness leading us to repentance.

When Mephibosheth came to David, the king didn’t ask him what did he do, why did he hide, etc but rather, he spoke his name, Mephibosheth.

Such a sweet way of greeting him; there was a tender and sweet feeling in David’s heart toward him.

At that time, David really expressed God’s heart toward man. God’s heart toward us is full of kindness and love.

Though we may not be looking for Him, He sends men to bring us to Himself so that we may enjoy His riches with Him in His house.

Though we may not seek after Him, though we may sin and be far away from God, He reaches out to us wherever we are and draws us with His kindness.

Oh, may we respond to this One! May we come to Him as we are, receive His forgiveness, and enter into the enjoyment of His riches!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us to reach us in our low, pitiful condition with the kindness of God. How we appreciate that You didn’t come to condemn or criticize us. Oh, Lord, we respond to Your calling; we come to You as we are, having no merit in ourselves but standing on the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Amen, Lord, we just open to You. We confess Your name, Lord Jesus. We confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He’s our Savior and life. Though we are nothing and we have nothing, we are touched by the kindness of God and we respond to God’s call by coming to God. Oh, we come to enjoy God with all His riches, for He has qualified us. Amen, Lord, we come to You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 18, pp. 282-283, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 10, entitled, David, Mephibosheth, and the Kindness of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – For Thy mercy we are grateful, / ’Tis so rich, so plenteous! / Thru Thy mercy in redemption, / Thou hast richly favored us. / If without this, if without this, / How could we be favored thus? (Hymns #26)
  – Thy mercy found us in our sins, / And gave us to believe; / Then, in believing, peace we found, / And in Thy Christ we live…O God, how rich, how vast Thy love, / Whoe’er can Thee repay? / Thy love is past man’s finding out, / Thy grace no man can say. (Hymns #31)
  – No condemnation now I dread; / Jesus, and all in Him, is mine! / Alive in Him, my living Head, / And clothed in righteousness Divine, / Bold I approach the eternal throne, / And claim the crown, through Christ my own. / Bold I approach the eternal throne. (Hymns #296)