2 Samuel 19 Devotional

Content with the King Himself

“And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!””2 Samuel 19:30 (BSB)

David's return is messy. Joab has to shake him out of his grief (19:5-7), and the chapter ends with Israel and Judah quarreling over the king (19:43). In between, Shimei, who had cursed him, falls down and confesses, and David swears that he will not die (19:23). Barzillai, the eighty-year-old who had provided for the king, declines a place in Jerusalem (19:33-37).

And Mephibosheth comes, unwashed and untrimmed since the day the king left (19:24). He says Ziba deceived him, but he does not demand his rights. His grandfather's whole house deserved death, he says, yet the king gave him a place at his table, so he has no further claim (19:28). When David splits the land between him and Ziba, Mephibosheth tells him to let Ziba have it all, since the king has come home safely (19:30). Grace received at the king's table has made the king himself his treasure. God's grace does the same: it makes Christ more precious than anything we might gain from him.

To think about: Do you want God more for what he gives or for who he is, and what would it look like to treasure him today?