Honoring Others
2007-12-20

Eleven days since I last updated. Must do better. Sometimes I think I've forgotten how to talk to God. But, it's kind of like riding a bicycle. You don't forget...you just get less efficient at it. So, it's time to brush off the old knees and get them in shape for 2008.

DAY 34

read

2 Samuel 9:8-13

I'm supposed to read the passage slowly, putting myself in David's throne room. I see Mephibosheth almost cowering in fear at David's summoning. Mephibosheth was Saul's grandson, and David was looking for a way to honor someone from Saul's family. Mephibosheth was lame in both feet because he had been dropped when he was an infant. He probably had to be carried into the throne room.

This is such an awe-inspiring story. I cannot imagine how Mephibosheth (I'm really getting tired of typing that...from now on, he shall be referred to as "M") must have felt at the honor that was being bestowed up on him by the King. From that point on, he took all of his meals at the King's table.

think

It says to pause to become aware of how I relate to what is unfolding here. Which character do you identify with, if any? And why?

I certainly can't identify with the King of Israel. Heh. And it is quite easy for me to identify with M who is lame in both feet.

I don't identify physically, because the only "handicap" that I have is that I'm a bit overweight. I'm not lame, deaf or blind. Not physically. But there are many times that I feel "lame" before my God. I need to walk with him and sometimes it seems as though I can't even stand up, much less walk. I am honored to be able to sit at table with the King of the universe. He lavishes blessings on me for no other reason than it is his good pleasure.

pray

As I read the story again, I get a sense of the honor that I can place on others. There are plenty of people in this world who could use some honor. I go to church with a lot of them. And coupling this idea with Paul's admonition to consider others to be better than ourselves...well that creates a mindset that is totally foreign to most of us today.

live

I'll be looking to see if God is specifically inviting me to some course of action here. And to see what might be standing in the way of that course of action.

Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, taking all his meals at the king's table. He was lame in both feet.


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