Friendship

2 Samuel 9 is all about David keeping his promise to Jonathan from way back in 1 Samuel 20:11-17. David made an oath in God’s name to preserve Jonathan’s bloodline. The custom in the Middle East (and we can see it throughout history in Europe also) was to eliminate competition for the throne by new, incoming kings. That usually meant killing all the offspring from the deposed king assuring that there would be no claims on the throne from those descendants. Jonathan asked David to spare his linage (which was Saul’s linage as Jonathan was Saul’s son). David said he would, but it’s been several years into David’s reign and he has not even tried to do so.

We are not told what sparked David’s sudden interest in keeping his promise to Jonathan. We are just told that, “David inquired, ‘Is there anyone still alive from the family of Saul, to whom, for Jonathan’s sake, I can show kindness” (2 Samuel 9:1 CJB). One such person was located and he happened to be the lame son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth. He was accidently made lame by his nurse dropping him as they fled what they thought would be David’s revenge on the family of Saul after Saul’s death. (David had no intention of doing that, but the nurse did not know that.)

Later in the passage (verse3), David asks the question in a slightly different way (according to the various English translations), but the meanings were the same. “The king said, ‘Is there anyone still alive from the family of Saul, to whom I can show God’s grace?’” (CJB). David’s desire was to keep his promise to his closest friend, Jonathan, and show God’s special brand of grace.

While Mephibosheth was afraid David had ill intentions lined up for him, David tells him to not be afraid (verse 7). Then David goes on to tell Mephibosheth how his grace and kindness are going to be played out. “for I am determined to be kind to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. I will restore to you all the land of Saul your [grand]father, and you will always eat at my table.” David suddenly made Mephibosheth a very rich man. David went above and beyond what Jonathan asked him to do. Due to his friendship with Jonathan – for Jonathan’s sake – David was extremely generous. (David had the right to claim all of Saul’s possessions as his as Saul didn’t appear to have any legitimate heirs.)

I thought to myself, “How good of a friend am I?” Am I generous? Would I go out of the way to help a friend’s child? At the very least, do I pray for my friends and their families? Sometimes I can say, “Yes!” to all those questions (or at least some of them). But this idea of good friendship challenges me to be more intent in praying for my friends and their families. Intentional friendship is what God calls us to.

He Is With Us Wherever We Go

Last week in 2 Samuel 7, I touched on how God is not stuck in a temple. The other nations of the Middle East thought their gods had power limited to their nation’s boundaries. If their gods were going to go with them to battle, they would have to carry a statue with them. David made some assumptions that the same is true of his God. So David desired to build a temple to “put God in.”

God corrected David by saying He was never in a temple before and that the tabernacle did not need to be present for David and his armies to be successful in battle. It seems like David may have learned something about that. We see in 2 Samuel 8 David’s conquest of many different nations. David recognizes that God went with the armies wherever they went. At the end of verse 14 it is recorded that, “ADONAI gave victory to David wherever he went” (CJB).

I found it interesting to me, during my current emotional downturn, that David traveled far and wide from Jerusalem in his war campaigns. David’s assignment from God was to physically subjugate all the original areas of the Promised Land to rule under one king. David’s objective was to create a united kingdom ruling over all the territories God promised Israel when they came to the Promised Land. And, so God was with him and working wonders in David’s life (as seen in the Psalms David wrote) and through David’s life for the benefit of all 12 tribes of Israel.

Today my battles are different. Most are tied up in my mental illness and other issues I face on a daily basis. Whether I’m sinking into a depression with the lethargy and lack of motivation, or zooming into a mania with its irrationality and irritability, I need to take the message in this chapter to heart: God is with me wherever I go. And the victory is His just as it was in David’s battles.

I need to recognize that God has already won victory for me. It says in John 16:33 (where Jesus is talking to His disciples shortly before His arrest), “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (NASB). He has overcome all the problems and situations this world can throw at me, and I may have peace as a result. Dropping everything going on in my thoughts down before Jesus, I can find that peace. It takes practice, but when I’m able to get my heart and mind into trusting Jesus, peace does come.