Lodebar - Grace Unexpected and Distrusted

When I was five years old, my mother was tooNow I can just imagine what was going on in the
obsessed with finding bargains the day aftermind of Mephibosheth when the King's men came to
Christmas to notice I had been left behind. We werehis door and told him King David was summoning him.
visiting the big city of El Paso, Texas where thereThink of all he had been told by this nurse whom he
was, in the middle of downtown, a huge park with anhad trusted with his life. He had lived in fear of David
alligator pool as the main attraction. I called it thesince he was five years old! My guess is that
Alligator Park and those creatures fascinated me. So,Mephibosheth thought this was the end for him. He
finding myself lost in the store, I found my way towould die.
the Alligator Park and sat on a bench watchingBut what choice did he have? Surrounded by these
people hurriedly pass in front of me on their way torepresentatives of The King, he had no choice but to
work or stores. I remember feeling so lost. If onlyproceed with them. Little did he know that the thing
one kind lady would smile at me as she passed by;that brought him out of hiding was grace - grace
but no one did. At five years old, I knew whatfrom the absolute authority of King David.
Lodebar felt like.Now, flash forward. Picture Mephibosheth sitting at
Lo-Debar (Lodebar) was a real place during the reignThe King's table! He looks like royalty; he smells like
of King Saul and then of King David. Mephibosheth,royalty; he speaks like royalty; and with his crippled
the son of Prince Jonathan, and grandson of Kinglegs under the King's Table, he appears to be royalty
Saul was five years old when his father andto everyone else in the court!
grandfather fell in the Battle of Mount Gilboa. TheEach of us has experienced our own Lodebar. Some
child's nurse hearing of this calamity fled with the boyare hiding out because of the shame of divorce, or
from Gibeah, the royal residence, and stumbled.abuse, or economic disaster. But everyone has been
Because she dropped the child on the ground,to Lodebar. And it is only the benevolent grace of
Mephibosheth was permanently paralyzed from theAlmighty King of Kings, Jesus Christ that can bring us
waste down. He was carried to the land of Gilead,out of hiding. Sometimes the shame we feel or
where he and the nurse found a refuge in the housebelieve is nothing but a lie we have believed. Some
of Machir at Lo-Debar (Lodebar).one fed us the lie, and for whatever reason, we
Lodebar was a dismal place of no pasture, no hope -believed it.
total desolation.Even those who seem to have everything valued by
You ended up in Lodebar when you were crushed bythis fallen world can be lost in Lodebar. They are lost.
the storms of life and believed that life was over forThey need a Savior - a King - who takes the initiative
you.of bringing them out of their lost-ness. His name is
Perhaps my love for this story has a great deal toJesus, The Name above all names, and He offers
do with being told repeatedly that I was the shameredemption to all residences of Lodebar!
of my pastor-father's church. When one is made toSometimes, those who know Christ as Redeemer
feel shameful from earliest memory, it sets up beliefsand Savior can visit a psychological Lodebar. How long
of worthlessness, as well as feelings of fear andthe visit is and how desolate depends on how
self-doubt that must be fought and conquered sointimately they know God and His Sovereignty.
much later in life. It makes you hide from life, eitherA husband betrays a wife after thirty years of
through passive behavior or throughmarriage and everything she thought her life was
over-compensating behavior.about is now gone. Who is she now? Was the whole
I can just imagine this five-year-old's nurse telling himChristian Marriage just a big sham? Where can she
they would surely be killed if the new King Davidgo? Every place they shared is uncomfortable. Even
ever found out they were alive. I can hear her tellingfriends are now distant, uncomfortable, and suspect.
Mephibosheth: This is King David's fault you are likeStuck in Lodebar, she cries out to God: Is this how a
this. You know what would have happened to youdaughter of Yours is meant to live? People look at
after your grandfather died. You would have beenher with that question in their eyes: What did YOU
killed because it is the custom! If I had not run withdo to break up your marriage?
you, you would be dead, and if I had not been soCreedence Clearwater Revival had a hit song, Lodi in
afraid, I would not have dropped you. It's David's1964. Though hardly as profound as being spiritually
fault you are crippled, but better crippled than dead.lost, a thumbnail view of being lost and trapped, both
Some years later, when King David had subdued allliterally and metaphorically, was given by John
the adversaries of Israel, he began to think of theFogerty. So this is not a foreign concept, even to
family of Jonathan, his best friend with whom he hadthose who don't know Jesus. It is no fun being
made a covenant. David had covenanted withtrapped in any way.
Jonathan that when he became king he would neverEven at five years of age, I knew what it was to
cut off his kindness from the family of Jonathan. Sofeel both trapped and lost. It was the first of many
he asked his advisers if there was anyone left of thetimes, and God has extended His Grace to me in the
House of Saul (and Jonathan) that He could bless. Hemost unusual and unexpected ways. I suspect I will
took the initiative to seek out Jonathan's relativesfeel the pull toward Lodebar again and again before I
that might still be living. All his advisers could come upmeet Jesus face-to-face; but each time I visit is a
with was there was this crippled kid, son ofshorter visit than the time before. It is not because
Jonathan, who was hiding out in the desolate place.of who I am, but Whose I am that makes all the
David told them to find this boy and bring himdifference. He knows the way out of Lodebar and I
immediately.know the way to Him!