Confidence Leads to Kindness

In 2 Samuel 9 we read of David’s kindness to a man named Mephibosheth. This is my favorite name in the Bible and I used to have a desire to name a son “Mephibosheth” but if you shorten the name you would probably say, “Meph” and that sounds too much like…well, you know. Anyway, Mephibosheth is a son of the former king, Saul. Typically, when a new king came to power, he would execute all of the relatives of the previous king, in an attempt to limit the possibility of someone challenging his throne. That was standard practice for new kings. However, David doesn’t do this…why?

David shows kindness to Mephibosheth because David understands that his kingdom comes from God. He understands that God put him in this place and if God wanted, He could take it away. David could treat Mephibosheth kindly because of David’s confidence in God. He didn’t need to fear Mephibosheth.

This is a good example for all of us. There is no need to fear what happens in this life when we realize that God is in control and we can be confident in that. We can love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us because we know that God has our back. If you’re not a kind person, chances are you are not a confident person….but you can change that…why not today?