Welcome to the Family
Tuesday (November 18)
Welcome to the Family
Psalm 72:13
He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.
When I tell people at church that our son’s name is Micah, they naturally assume that my wife and I named him after the faithful Old Testament prophet, but then I get the opportunity to relay the account of another lesser-known Micah in the Old Testament whose story serves as a wonderful testament to Almighty God’s heart for the weak and needy. The story takes place in 2 Samuel 9, as King David asks around to find out if there’s anyone still living from Saul’s family to whom he can show mercy. Through that petition, a servant named Ziba comes forward and tells David that Jonathan—Saul’s son and David’s old friend—has a crippled son named Mephibosheth who’s been effectively living in obscurity in the shadows of society. David immediately calls for Mephibosheth to be brought to the palace, a call that must’ve sent shivers down Mephibosheth’s spine. But there, as Mephibosheth throws himself to the ground before the throne, David reaches down to the crippled man, adopts him into his royal family, and gives him a lifelong seat at the royal table. As you can imagine, Mephibosheth is utterly dumbfounded by such extravagant pity. “But I am just a dead dog!” he exclaims in disbelief. Ah, but David effectively responds, “Not to me, you’re not—you’re family now!” I’ve always loved that foreshadowing of Christ’s love, of the way Christ mercifully finds beggars like me, and freely offers a seat at His bountiful table; but I missed the little line at the end of the chapter that paints the picture in even more brilliant colors. It simply reads: “And Mephibosheth had an infant son, Micah.”
Not only did David rescue a crippled man from poverty and obscurity that day, but he rescued a little infant boy as well. And that’s the story I get to teach my own son as he gets older. I get to tell him, “Micah, I’m a beggar too, but Jesus pitied me, and saved me, and gave me a seat at His table forever, even though I was so unworthy of His love—and He offers the same mercy to you as well!”
Friend, I encourage you to read 2 Samuel 9 for yourself today and reflect on the good news it so poignantly symbolizes.