I came across a quote from the old pastor and theologian A.W. Tozer and it stopped me in my tracks:
-A.W. Tozer

What you think, when you think of God…is the most important fact in your life right now.  It is impacting every single day: How you deal with your past. How you relate to your job, your money, your mate, your kids in. Things in the present and your hope in the future.

If you ask this book we call the Bible that question, what is God like, all 66 books come back with the same answer:  GRACE.

If you go to the very beginning and you ask Adam and Eve what God is like, they would say grace.  If you ask Abraham, the beginning of the Jewish people, what he thought about God, he would say grace.  If you asked Noah (the Ark), a story a lot of people have pushed aside as untrue but the Bible says was literal, the Bible says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

When you come to the New Testament, Paul (who wrote 3/4 of the Bible) 130 times talked about the grace of God.  He gave the summation of it all when he says, Ephesians 2:8-9   ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast  

We do we think of Jesus Christ?  Most anybody, whatever their view of Christ, think of Him as a good man, a powerful figure in history.  Jesus, though He never used the term "grace", the phrase he used more than any other was "fear not".  The Bible says in John 1 that Jesus was full of grace and truth:

John 1:14, 16-17   And the Word (CHRIST) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

We use words like that all the time: grace, faith, redemption, justification... Sometimes we get kind of "churchy" and don't explain our terms or talk about what we mean.  Let's be honest, we use "grace" all the time. When we pray before a meal we are saying grace.  When a ballet dancer does something amazing, we talk about how graceful they are.  Princess Diana was known for her grace; there's a book title called "Grace is Not a Blue-eyed Blond".  What do we mean when we talk about grace?  I could spend some time trying to tell you, but I want to spend our time showing you [in the Bible].

Grace can mean coordination of movement, it can mean a prayer, it can refer to dignity and elegance.  So when it comes to God…what is GRACE?

2 Samuel 9:1 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness (lit. GRACE) for Jonathan’s sake?

Already tremendously weird, unusual circumstances, because usually the new king would seek out the family of the former king and kill them.  They don't want any challengers coming after them to restore their father's kingdom.  That was the policy of the day, to wipe out [the former king's] descendants completely so they are no threat.  David wants to show the family kindness.  That word literally in Hebrew is GRACE.  David wants to show grace to one of Saul's descendants and do it for Jonathan's sake.

You see, there's part of the story I didn't tell you.  Though Saul hated David's guts with all of his being, Saul had a son named Jonathan.  Jonathan and David were best friends.  They loved each other with all their heart and at one point Jonathan came to David and said "I know God is setting you up and taking my Dad down.  When you get to your kingdom, when God gives all this to you, I don't want you to forget about me.  I want you to remember my house and not wipe us out.  Promise me David."  And David made that promise to Saul's son and now he wants to know if there is any of Saul's decedents he can show grace to for Jonathan's sake.

Now here's the answer to that question...

2 Samuel 9:2-5  And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. ³And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet...

Before we go any further, why did Ziba say that?  David didn't ask that; what he looked like, what kind of background he had, what physical state he was in, if he was handicapped. Yet Ziba throws out "yeah, there's a guy. He has a descendant, but he's lame [he's crippled]." I think what Ziba is saying here is "I kinda get where you're going here David, you want a poster boy for Saul's kingdom and show everybody how good and gracious you are and parade him around.  Listen, this guy is not going to be your poster child.  You don't want to bring out this one to show your grace.  He's crippled...." and I think what Ziba doesn't tell David (and this is me talking not the Bible) is that this guy H.A.T.E.S. you.

...⁴And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. ⁵Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.

Lodebar is an interesting word.  "Lo" literally means "no" and "debar" means "pasture"; what it's saying is "no pasture land".  This was a barren, nasty, outskirts type of place. David has this attitude of  'I want to show grace to Saul's decedents' and now we meet Mephibosheth, one of Saul's decedents, and the attitude he has.  Mephibosheth is living his life away from the present king; afraid of David.  A life of bitter anger toward the present king.  He's gotten as far away as he could go, as far as  he can, so David will never find him.  Mephibosheth doesn't want to be found or recognized because naturally this king will want to take his life if he ever found him.

Let me give you a reason why I believe this man by the name of Mephibosheth was angry toward David.  If you look a few chapters back, you find a unique little scene.  Whenever Saul and Jonathan died in battle, word got back to Mephibosheth's nurse (he was just a baby) that the king and his son were dead.  Naturally the nurse assumes they are coming to kill Mephibosheth because he is next in line and there will be no future for either of them.  The Bible says in her haste, she drops the baby and it cripples him.  Here's what you find, Mephibosheth has been running not only from David but the very thought of David all his life.  Every time he sees that crutch hanging up on the wall, "David's the one who made me like this."  "David's the reason I have to live out here."  "David's the reason I can't have any kind of life."  He's away, afraid, and angry; then one day the thing he's most scared of comes knocking.  Mephibosheth is out in Lodebar, a long way from the capital and the palace.  You may of thought you were hidden real well and you weren't; the king wants to see you.  The king knows you're here.  He told us to bring you to the palace.  All his fears about David and that fateful day have just come true and we believe this guy has a wife.  We know he's got a baby.  They pick Mephibosheth up, they grab his crutch, and they make the journey to the palace.  I don't even know how to tell you, my imagination is not keen enough, can you just imagine what Mephibosheth is feeling when those giant wood doors swing open, guards on either side, sharp swords and spears and shields, and Mephibosheth is walking down a long pathway to the throne room of the king.  The doors open and there's David seated on his throne.  As weak as Mephibosheth is, that's how strong David is. Mephibosheth is brought down all the way to the throne of the king and the one that he's had in mind all his life, he's never seen or talked to, but had his mind made up about, is seated on the throne.

Let's see what happens...

2 Samuel 9:6  Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, (slings out his crutch and falls flat on his face in front of the king) and did reverence...  
I don't think this guy was a coward. I think this guy has a wife and a baby, he knows there's not a shot in this world that he survives, but maybe he won't kill my wife and kid.  Maybe there's some kind of hope here if I beg him.

2 Samuel 9:6  Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence And David said, Mephibosheth...  Mephibosheth can't even see David, his face is down to the ground.  He didn't know if David's arms were crossed, if his hands were in the pockets of his robe, Mephibosheth didn't know if David was distant, hateful

And David said, Mephibosheth And he answered, Behold thy servant! (Exclamation point, fear in those words).

I've read this a bunch of time and I still can't get over it...

2 Samuel 9:7  And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake (and I'm not only going to spare you), and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.

Then David stooped.  The king, all of his royalty, all of his power; he bends down to this man and takes him by the arm.  "What you thought I was like, I'm not like that.  The reason you thought I brought you here, I didn't bring you for that reason.  You’re mine.  I take you just as you are, crutches and hang-ups and liabilities and all.  I don't take you because I have to, I take you because I want to,  I take you for your daddy's sake."

Y'all, I was amazed by this.  Do you know what the word "grace" literally means in the Hebrew?
Grace –  (HEBR)“To bend, to stoop.” It carries with it this thought, "To extend favor or kindness to one who doesn’t deserve it and can never earn it.”  

The story of every single one of us is a story of us being away, afraid, and in most cases us being angry.  This God took my Daddy two years ago with prostate cancer. I don't know why God lets some of these things happen.  For some of you, you suffered abuse growing up.  "I don't know why my life has turned out like this and this God if He's really a God of love, how could He do that?  Be like that?  Allow that?"

We spend our lives taking His gifts.  Every morning the gift of breath in your lungs.  The gift of a beating heart.  The gift of healthy kids in most cases. The gift of a roof over your head and a car in your garage.  The gift of a job.  The gift of America.  The list goes on and on but we take the gifts and reject the Giver.  We run like mad from God and we crash straight into Him at funerals when we can't think about anything else.  We crash into Him when life caves in and the bullets are flying. We cry out to God when most of the time we've spent our life thinking evil thoughts about God.  And all the while, God stoops.

You say, "Preacher, if you knew the stuff I've done, I've said, the people I've betrayed.  If you knew the way I've let my loved ones down; the sins I've committed and the lies I've told you'd know that God may stoop toward somebody else, but he can't stoop toward me.  He can't reach down to me.  The stuff I've done, I deserve hell.  I deserve to be cut off.  I don't deserve God."  Friend, listen to me.  David didn't take Mephibosheth for his sake; he took Mephibosheth  for Jonathan's sake.


Two-thousand years ago, God sent His Son down to planet Earth.  He lived a perfect, flawless life.  He thanked God for every breath and every beat of his heart.  We all know he died on a Roman cross at the age of 33.  Don't let the culture steer you wrong on this; He wasn't just a good man, He wasn't just dying to make a point. The Bible says the penalty of God, his wrath and judgement, all the wrong stuff you've done and ever thought, all the filthy stuff I've ever done and thought, He has to punish that and he punished Jesus on the cross so that He could set you free.  Jesus took your place so that God could bend down to you and say "Listen, I will take you just like you are.  I'll take you with your crutches, hangups, problems, temptations, all your flaws, like you are for Jesus' sake!"  That, my friend, is what we mean when we talk about Grace.

Now Mephibosheth has a choice doesn't he?  How is he going to respond?

PRIDE?  I don't need you.  I don't need anything you can give me.  I don't need your kingdom or your table.  Give me my crutch and I'll make it out of here the same way  I came in here.  You're the one who made me like this and I don't need a thing from you.

UNEARNED?  David, let me do better first.  Let me extend some effort .  I haven't done anything for you; I can't accept a gift like this.  Let me go out and praise you and serve you a little bit.  David, let me earn this somehow.

SHAME? David, I'm too ashamed.  I can't sit at your table, it's too embarrassing.  It's too humiliating.  I don't deserve it.

Listen friends, you know why some of you have not yet bowed the knee to Christ or said "God if You're stooping down to me, I'll take it.  If you sent Jesus for me, I'll take it."  BECAUSE YOU HAVE TOO MUCH PRIDE.  "God, I don't need you.  You let that happen to my family, to me when I was a kid; You're the source of my problems and I don't want to have to bow a knee to You. I don't need You."

Some of you have tried to be religious to earn your way back to God.  You have tried to do good works, to please Him. You tried to somehow earn it and you've been so ashamed of yourself that you thought it wasn't for you.  Can you imagine how tremendously insulting it would have been if the king is stooping down to this man and this man for any reason says "I can't take it, I don't want it, you can't give it to me."  That's the one thing on the face of this Earth that could have sent him back out those palace doors EMPTY.

No problem, sin, struggle, flaw, or frailty could have kept him from the king, but pride and shame would have sent him away empty.  That's not what he did...

2 Samuel 9:8-13  ⁸And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house. ¹⁰Thou 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. ¹¹Then 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. ¹²And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micha. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. ¹³So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.

Luke 11:13   If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

John Newton said "I'm evil but maybe God can take somebody even like me."  It didn't end there and over the next few years, God spoke and drew John Newton.  This filthy, vile, slave trader asked Jesus Christ to stoop down and save his wicked soul.  Later down the road, John Newton got sick, he went blind, his wife came within an inch of death; but through all that, God called him to be a preacher.  He became not just a preacher, but a powerful writer of songs.  He sat down one day to write a song he entitled “Faith’s Review and Expectation” and here's how the song went: