The Life of the Lame
2 Samuel 4:4 And Jonathan,
Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up,
and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and
became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
A. The Definition of his Lameness
Lame:
crippled or physically disabled,
especially in the foot or leg so as to limp or walk with difficulty, impaired
or disabled through a defect or injury; weak, inadequate, unsatisfactory,
clumsy
Being lame means that
something that was supposed to work, doesn’t and never will.
ILLUSTRATION:
It could be your marriage, your home, your plans for your life, etc.
Being lame means that there’s
a part of you that’s disabled and you are going to have to learn to live with
it.
Being lame means that there’s
some things others can do that you can’t do.
Being lame means you are
going to have greater difficulty doing things that some people do with ease.
Being lame means having
people feel sorry for you, even if you’ve gotten used to being lame.
Being lame means having to
work hard to limit the disability from getting worse or affecting you in other
areas.
Being lame means having to
make sure that being lame isn’t what defines you. (FDR was crippled, but nobody
thinks of him as a cripple.)
His lameness was what defined
him.
·
2 Samuel 4:4 And
Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet.
·
2 Samuel 9:3 And the
king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the
kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son,
which is lame on his feet.
Everybody that knew him,
referred to him as lame on his feet.
His entire life was affected
because of his lameness.
Where he lived, what he did,
who he was all determined by his lameness.
You can ignore your lameness,
but it won’t ignore you.
You are a product of your
past experiences and past hurts and past pains.
B. The Disappointment of his Lameness
Being lame is bad enough.
Nobody wants to be lame.
We would all agree that it is
a sad thing for somebody to be lame.
But there are several
elements of this story that make it even sadder.
1. His lameness came after
he had experienced the joy and pleasure of walking and running. (he was 5 yrs.
old)
He was old enough to know
what he was missing.
He’d been able to walk and to
run, but now missed that pleasure.
There’s nothing as
frustrating to a crippled as the remembrance of not being crippled.
2. His lameness was a
direct result of the destructive patterns of his family.
His family had been deprived
of their rightful inheritance.
They were supposed to rule
Israel for generations.
That was the normal course of
events.
His grandfather, Saul was
crippled in that he was stripped of his kingdom. - I Sam. 15:27, 28
His father, Jonathan was
crippled because he chose to follow his father rather than David, God’s
anointed.
I Sam. 18:4 - Jonathan gave
David his robe, his garments, his sword, his bow and his girdle – but not his
shoes.
He kept following his disobedient,
scheming, jealous father, and it killed him.
It was his family’s
destructive patterns that endangered his life as just a 5 year old boy.
3. His lameness was the
result of somebody that was supposed to protect him from being hurt.
His nurse was the one person
in his life that was supposed to keep him safe.
It was her job to care for
and protect him – no matter what happens.
It was her place to make sure
he made it out alive – even if everybody else tried to destroy him.
Ironically, it was the nurse
that fell – she literally let him down.
It was the nurse’s fault that
he became lame.
Many people today become lame
because someone that they looked up to and respected let them down.
Parents – Peers – Preachers –
Partners (husband or wife)
4. His lameness might
could have been avoided if he’d been cared for properly after the fall.
I’m not sure what the details
were of his fall, but surely they had doctors back then.
Surely if they could have
gotten him to the right person right after it happened, it may have changed his
situation.
There’s a lot of people that
get hurt, and then don’t deal with it.
They try to hide it. Or deny it.
Or allocate blame. Or blame
themselves. But as they delay, it grows
worse.
They get bitter, they get
broken, and what started out as a hurt has now redefined their life.
C. The Diminishing of his Lameness
Mephibosheth never stopped
being lame; but there came a day when his lameness didn’t stop him.
It eventually got to the
place where Mephibosheth’s lameness became a secondary, almost irrelevant
issue.
Thanks to several important
things, the king helped make his lameness a non-issue.
1. Diminished by his Furnishings – vs. 9
David made one of Saul’s
servants by the name of Ziba responsible for Mephibosheth’s welfare.
He was Saul’s servant, so
David made him the servant to Mephibosheth.
He ordered him to take his
sons and his servants and till the land.
It was his job to till the
land and bring the fruit of the land to him.
Would this be a problem? Not
according to the latter part of verse 10.
·
2 Samuel 9:10 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
fifteen sons and twenty servants.
He was no longer
“Mephibosheth the cripple”.
He went from living with
Machir in the land of Lodebar to having his own land and property.
He’s no longer Pitiful. Now he is Powerful.
He went from being a story of
Sadness to a story of Substance.
He went from being at the
Mercy of others, to the Master of others.
2. Diminished by his Fellowship – vs. 10 …but Mephibosheth shall eat bread always at my table.
He was welcomed into the home
of David.
He sat at his table and ate
continually.
He was treated as a son. –
vs. 11
3. Diminished by his Family – II Sam. 9:12 And Mephibosheth
had a young son, whose name was Micha.
God gave him the chance to
raise a family that didn’t have to run.
God gave him a son that
WASN’T lame.
Conclusion:
Yes. Mephibosheth became lame. And he stayed
that way. He was lame on both his
feet.
·
Vs. 13 - So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he
did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.
But it was OK. David didn’t mind. David didn’t hold it against him. In fact,
being crippled was probably that only thing that saved his life. If he hadn’t been lame, he may have tried to
rise up against David and usurp his throne.
As it turned out, becoming lame was probably one of the best things that
ever happened to Mephibosheth.
However: I’m thankful tonight
for the fact that God has “handicap parking” for those that are lame!
