Thursday, May 6, 2010

Where Are You Walking?

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually at the king's table. And he was lame on both his feet. - 2 Sam. 9:13

In 2 Sam. chapter 9, we are provided one of the greatest pictures of grace in the Old Testament. David the king, seeks out Mephibosheth, who was lame on both his feet. He wasn't born that way, when Mephibosheth was 5 years old, King Saul, Mephibosheth's grandfather, was killed in battle. Jonathan, Mephibosheth's dad, next in line for the throne, was killed in the same battle. When news of the deaths got to Mephibosheth's nurse's ears, she feared for Mephibosheth's life, since the boy was next in line for the throne (and in those days they liked to totally wipe out the king's entire family), she did what any good nurse would do, she picked up a 5 year old Mephibosheth and ran. Have you ever tried to run carrying a 5 year old boy? Yeah, she had a hard time and dropped him. And that is how Mephibosheth became lame on both his feet (2 Sam 4:4).

Fast forward. David has been king for a couple decades and Mephibosheth is old enough to have a children. Mephibosheth apparently has been in hiding this whole time. King David sought Mephibosheth out and showed kindness to him. Mephibosheth realizes his own unworthiness and David gives him a place at the king's table and he did eat continually at the king's table. Mephibosheth was provided a place at the table based on some pact David made decades earlier with Jonathan, Mephibosheth's dad, probably before Mephibosheth was born. There was nothing Mephibosheth could have done to earn a place at the king's table. He was lame. Thus, grace.

Did you know that the first mention of the word table in the Bible is in reference to the tabernacle? The table of shewbread (or table of presence or table of face) held twelve loaves of bread, each one represented a tribe of Israel. On each Sabbath, the priest would replace the existing loaves with freshly baked ones. The old loaves they were to be eaten by the priest before the Lord. Unlike Mephibosheth, who could not stand on his own, the priests had to eat standing up. There were no chairs in the tabernacle, no place to sit.

Tables are for fellowship. Who do you have fellowship with? If you think about it, you have fellowship with those that you have something in common with. The priest that ate the shewbread in the presence of the Lord were all blood related--Aaron and his sons. They entered the Holy Place and walked to the table to place the bread on it. They walked to break and pass the bread. And, if they were anything like me, they walked around while eating the bread. They were having fellowship with each other and with God, since they were to eat before the Lord.

Opposite the table of shewbread stood the golden lamp-stand. The golden lamp-stand provided light in the Holy Place. So the priest, who typified the believer, had fellowship with other priest (other believers) and with God while walking in the light.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another... 1 John 1:3-7

Mephibosheth had fellowship with King David at the king's table. The priests in the wilderness had fellowship with other priest and with God at the table of shewbread, while walking in the light. We have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and with fellow believers, as long as we are walking in the light. Where are you walking?

While we walk with God in light,
God our hearts doth still unite;
Dearest fellowship we prove,
Fellowship in Jesus’ love.-- Charles Wesley