No one may have known of David’s promise to Jonathan to be kind to his family. It had been made many years before, most likely in privacy. And even if someone knew about it, who would dare challenge the king to make good on such a promise? It was a promise most people would have understood David for breaking, or at least forgetting about. But that wasn’t what David did. In a time when he could finally turn his attention to the internal affairs of the kingdom rather than focus on defending Israel from external threats, David proactively sought out someone from Jonathan’s family to show kindness to.

We should take note of David’s integrity in the moment, but we should only pause there, not stop there. As we read this account, we need to read it through a Gospel lens, one that forces us to relate with Mephibosheth, not King David. We were like Mephibosheth, spiritually lame and in desperate need of the King’s mercy and kindness. And the beautiful thing is, we didn’t have to go to Him to receive such kindness. We couldn’t. Instead, like David, God proactively came looking for us. And when He found us, He heaped such kindness upon us that we never could have hoped for.

What is your emotional response to considering how God came looking for you?