It’s an interesting epilogue. A final chapter in a story that could have stood alone without it . . . but a chapter determined to be written by the Author and penned through the Spirit. It’s the story of King David’s reunion with Mephibosheth, after David’s return from exile during Absalom’s rebellion. And in this final chapter of the story, I’m taken by the response of the graced.

Mephibosheth is the graced. The lame-in-both-feet son of the deceased Jonathan . . . the grandson of the deceased King Saul . . . the “other” heir to the throne . . . the natural enemy of David . . . the man to whom King David shows abundant favor “for the sake of another.” Recipient of a great inheritance . . . invitee to sit each day at the king’s table . . . a member of the royal court . . . full access to the royal provision . . . granted intimate fellowship with the king.

But David is forced to flee, and Mephibosheth is not there. Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, tells David it is because Mephibosheth hopes to make a play for the throne . . . untrue. So when David returns, Mephibosheth makes his way into the king’s presence . . .

And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”. He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself,that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame. He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you. For all my father’s house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?” (2Samuel 19:25-28)

And there’s the response of the graced that grabbed me . . . ” . . . do therefore what seems good to you . . . What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?”

How easy is it for the graced (aka me) to presume to bring a list of what we think we now need before the King? How prone am I to devise the plan and then deliver it to the Sovereign? Perhaps, too easy . . . too prone.

Instead, having been abundantly graced . . . having been amazingly graced . . . having been called of the King and seated at His table, . . . maybe I should relinquish any right I think I have to inform the King of how my life should play out, the life that is not my own, anyway, because it has been redeemed with a price (1Cor. 6:19-20) . . . maybe I should trust Him to do what seems good to Him.

While, in His grace, He invites me to make my petitions known . . . though, as a Father, He delights to hear His children ask . . . at the end of the day, when all is said and done, I just need to trust in the wisdom and goodness of my King . . . I need to be content that, should the streams of overflowing grace cease (though they won’t), I will be content in simply being at the King’s table . . . that the grace I’ve experienced is more than sufficient . . . that His mercies, are more than enough.

The response of the graced? I’m thinkin’ . . .