A Song of Deliverance

And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul

II Samuel 22:1

The Bible speaks much of singing praises and song to the Lord.  In fact, as Christians, we should always have a song in our hearts.  In this chapter, David is praising the Lord for His goodness to him and for all of His protection and deliverance throughout his life.  There are a couple of things in this verse that I think should characterize our praise to the Lord.

1. Our thanksgiving and praise to the Lord should be immediate.
-“David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that Lord had delivered him…”.  As soon as the Lord delivered David, he stopped to praise and thank Him.  How often does the Lord bless us or answer our prayers and, while we enjoy the blessing, we don’t immediately stop to thank Him and praise Him?  Our praise should be instantaneous.

2. Our thanksgiving and praise to the Lord should be specific.
-“David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul”.  David didn’t just offer a general praise.  He, of course, did offer several general psalms of thanksgiving and praise.  And we should offer continuously psalms of thanksgiving and praise.  But we should also be specific in our thanksgiving and praise.

3. Our thanksgiving and praise should take place.
-The specifics of David’s song of thanksgiving and praise are nice to think about and would be good to apply to our lives.  But the fact is that David thanked the Lord and praised Him for His deliverance.  We have to start somewhere.  If we aren’t praising the Lord enough (are any of us really praising Him enough?), then it is time to start!  Thank Him and praise Him for all that He has done for you!

Friendship Repaid

And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?

II Samuel 9:1

As Christians, we are supposed to be kind to people.  We are supposed to be friendly.  We are supposed to be happy and joyful.  We are supposed to help people.  We are, in the words of Titus, supposed to be a “peculiar people, zealous of good works”.  Sometimes our kindness doesn’t seem like it is being repaid.  Sometimes we try to help someone and they despise us for it. 

Galatians 6:7 tells us that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.  Usually we think of this verse in a negative sense.  We think that if we do wrong and if we sin, we are going to reap bad things in our lives.  That is definitely true, but the opposite is also true: if we, following the example of our Saviour, “go about doing good”, we will also reap the rewards of that.  

In this passage, David is looking for someone of “the house of Saul” that he can show kindness to “for Jonathan’s sake”.  He wants to be kind to someone because of Jonathan’s friendship.  Mephibosheth did not even know David.  But he was the recipient of David’s kindness because of his father, Jonathan.  Jonathan sowed kindness with David, and it was his son Mephibosheth who reaped that kindness.  We never know when or how we will reap the things we have sown, but we will reap them.  Let us sow the things we want to reap.

David and Mephibosheth

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… And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.  And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

II Samuel 9:3, 7-8

I have always enjoyed reading about this wonderful picture of us, God and Jesus.  Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul, both of whom had died in battle.  He was “lame on his feet”.  He couldn’t do much of anything for himself.  He wasn’t out trying to fight for himself to “win back” the land that had belonged to Saul and Jonathan.  He was totally at the mercy of David and really had no reason to think that David would even take notice of him, let alone have mercy on him.

But David sought him out.  David was looking for someone to show kindness to because of Jonathan.  David restored to Mephibosheth all of the land that had belonged to Saul.  David told Mephibosheth that he would be eating at the king’s table.  Mephibosheth had nothing before David sought him out and he had everything after David sought him out and found him.

Think of the great picture this gives us of our God and Saviour.  We were helpless and had nothing.  He sought us out.  He found us.  He has given us everything.  And God has done all of these things because of Jesus.  Just as David showed Mephibosheth kindness because of Jonathan, so God is able to show us mercy and kindness because of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Without Him, we are, as Mephibosheth said, dead dogs.  We should be continually thankful for the mercy and kindness He has shown to us because of Jesus!