Intimacy With God

Getting to know God personally is  the most fulfilling thing you will ever have in your life. It’s often difficult to grasp because we wonder if we can ever know God personally.

My journey to experience God more personally probably began in my late middle school / high school years. I can’t point to a specific date, but I know it was around that time I started wanting to understand more and learn more about my Creator. I remember binge watching a TV channel that was dedicated to God centered music and programs. I also remember finding different strategies to read the Bible and pray. I was never too consistent, but there was this deep desire in me to know God, to understand Him and follow Him, no matter the cost.

In my college days, I remember wanting to attend a 3 night pentecostal prayer meeting hosted by a traveling pastor in a nearby church. My parents knew him personally, and by his words and actions, we knew God was working through him. I wanted so much to be like him, to have such a close relationship with God, and to exercise  supernatural gifts with humility. I attended all three nights of prayer.

When kids my age would have opted to stay away from this kind of church service, I willingly went in and stayed diligent on all three nights. These services went on for 3 to 4 hours each night, and each night, I would see people worshipping God out loud, speaking in tongues, getting healed, and I stood there with nothing. I could not sense the Holy Spirit moving or experiencing any change in how I perceived God. I did not speak in tongues or feel goosebumps or have a warm fuzzy feeling or see a great light . I stood there – still like a rock.

I was a bit disappointed that I had spent 3 nights  wanting more of Him, and yet there was nothing. I went home discouraged but not hopeless. I continued asking God for a supernatural encounter, but nothing supernatural happened. But, my desire for Him never changed. I still prayed and read the Bible and listened to sound teachings while using discernment and referring to the Bible to verify what I was learning. I continued to grow slowly in my faith. That was grace!

Today, I talk about dreams, visions, and prophecies. How did that come to be? I don’t know.  There were no big signs. There was no speaking in tongues. Looking back, I realize that God in His faithfulness helped me draw closer to Him. His desire is always to help us know Him more intimately. I haven’t perfected the art of understanding God’s heart. His love is deep, and mystery is in his very nature. The closer I get, the more I understand. He continues to take me deeper into His presence one day at a time. Sometimes, He reveals unsearchable things, and sometimes, His presence is silence.

It doesn’t matter how God reveals His heart to you, be it through dramatic encounters or through His silent presence, receive it by faith. Trust in His goodness to lead you closer to Him as you live a life of complete surrender, seeking and desiring to know Him as your highest priority. It may sound like a cliché but read your Bible and pray.  Don’t just listen to what others teach you, but ask the Spirit of God for discernment and for Him to teach you.

God loves you and will lead you. Jesus promised that His sheep will know His voice. You are His sheep, He is the Good Shepherd. He will make Himself known to you. There will come a day when you will know His voice clearly, keep asking and listening.

Elohim


This was painted live during worship and here’s a little bit of back story for those interested. To keep the post length manageable, I am formatting it differently than usual. Still long though 🙃

1. I pour water mixed with different colors (red, yellow, blue) in small cups to create background
– I see water and fire as a result.
– I write words – Bread of Life, Manna, the Way, the Truth, the Life, Prince of Peace and more(I no longer remember them all).
– I use more red, orange yellow, light and dark blue.
– I switch to using my fingers now.
– I create a large circle on the upper right corner with blue paint
-I realize red was stuck to my fingers so now I have red lines in my blue water (my theme for Lent was water and blood poured out of his side)
– I deepen the red and orange and add texture to resemble fire on the left.
– I make an eye out of the large blue circle (which coincides with the song being sung “I see you”. )
– I add the words El Roi God sees you.
– I add the words “I AM” three times (Trinity).
– I add large tear drops
-I add read hearts inside each tear drop.
– I see my palette and notice a strange shape formed by accident. I think it looks like a Hebrew letter (I don’t know Hebrew). I consider adding the shape to the canvas – what if it has a wierd meaning? What if it’s gibberish. I decide to add it anyway. (More about this shape at the end)
– I add planets to the right and texture to the left.
– I paint a light flare to the left.
– I add a red heart under the light flare ( I realize that’s in the reverse order).
– Add more texture in red and blue
– Add the final touch- the Greek symbol Alpha (I later understand the name of the painting ties in with this).

The whole thing was done in about 1.5 hours and was done with zero prep upfront. I painted whatever the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart.

The odd shape on my pallete that resembled a Hebrew letter was indeed a Hebrew letter. When I put it on the canvas, I had no idea of what it meant. The videographer who was shooting the event came to me after the worship ended. He asked my why I kept staring at the palette. I mentioned about the shaped that appeared in my palette. He curiously asked if I put that on the canvas. I did and showed it to him. He said, “we will need to Google that out to see what it means, don’t we?” That evening I Googled it out, as per his advice and I learned that the shape resembled the Hebrew alphabet “Shin”. The significance? This is the shape the high priests make with their hands while pronouncing the priestly blessing on the people of Israel(Vulcan hand salute in Star Trek). This is also the alphabet engraved on the prayer box containing the Mezuzah.

My interpretation of the painting-  the God who was at beginning, who created all things and who sustains all things is mindful of us. When He sees the pain, suffering, evil, sin and death, he grieves. He weeps and His tears are born out of love for His people and for His creation. Fire and Water denotes justice, judgement and refining. However, God’s heart is one of love. To the ones who desire true intimacy with Him, He will bring light and clarity to the heart.  His heart’s deepest desire is to bless.

I did not name the painting until almost a month later. As I was asking God for a name, the word Elohim came to mind. I researched the meaning and it perfectly describes the painting.

In the beginning Elohim… Genesis 1:1

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
 the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.” Numbers 6:22-27

Unsearchable

Unsearchable- Painting by Suki Joseph Premnath

Books, stacks and stacks of books. Growing up in India, my relationship with books was simple – test score. I read books, when needed, so I could pass my tests. My school had a small library and we weren’t allowed to check out books. We could read it and give it back before exiting the library. I hardly visited the library because we had back to back classes and I had no time to visit the library. Simply put, I did not grow up reading random books or novels. After moving to the West, I saw a stark contrast. Everyone reads all the time and almost everyone wants to author their own book. With digital books and media, one can get their hands on any book, anytime. Book studies, book clubs and small groups revolving around books are so common here that I continue to be fascinated by it all. 

This painting was inspired by Jeremiah 33:3. I have come to understand that every time God speaks to me, there are multiple layers and dimensions to it. I am humbled each time by the depth of His wisdom and how often I cannot fully comprehend His plan. We can read all the books we want and apply all the theories, formulae and theology We’ve learnt but we would still fall short of understanding all the mystery. Despite our inability to fully comprehend Him, God chooses to reveal hidden things to us. He chooses to (doesn’t have to) reveal His character, His beauty, His love and His plans for the future to us, who at every turn seem to stray away from Him. There have been several times in my life where God has revealed hidden things as forewarnings, as path for the future or as added details to partial knowledge. He has revealed things through numerous, oftentimes unconventional ways. Why He would do that remains a mystery to me. 

Jeremiah 33:3 is a promise, a hope, for fallen humanity, that when we call on Him, He will reveal things that are hidden from us. God can, and often does, reveal unsearchable things that we cannot find in books or stacks of carefully written theories and papers. He reveals Himself to us because of who He is and for His name’s sake. When prophecies are given, it is out of His mercy and unending grace. I can understand that we have been burnt by several so-called “prophetic messengers” but that doesn’t change the fact that God still intervenes in unimaginable ways with ordinary people. Call on Him and He will reveal great and unsearchable things. He will do so for His own sake. Despite divine revelation, we may never fully understand and that’s okay. He understands.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

The Gift of Lent

Lent is a season of reflecting on the cross and remembering the resurrection. Millions of followers of Jesus around the world consider this an important season that climaxes with Good Friday and Easter. It’s been almost 2000 years since the original events of Christ’s death and resurrection, and somehow, the cross is still relevant today. Why?

John 3:16 is perhaps one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. It reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This verse succinctly summarizes the gospel message and is a powerful reminder of God’s love for us.

The first part of the verse, “For God so loved the world,” emphasizes the magnitude of God’s love. It also points to the fact that this love is not just for a select few, but for the entire world. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God loves you.

The second part of the verse, “that he gave his one and only Son,” highlights the sacrificial nature of God’s love. He didn’t just say he loved us, he showed it through his actions. He sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. This was the ultimate act of love and the ultimate sacrifice.

The final part of the verse, “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” is an invitation. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he promises both abundant life and eternal life. We will not perish but have life. This is a promise from God to us. Simply believe and receive His grace, love, and life.

John 3:16 is a powerful reminder of God’s unconditional love and the incredible sacrifice he made for us. It points us to the cross. The cross is where God met people in the most unbelievable way. Whether you observe Lent or not, let the message of the cross remind you of God’s sacrificial love for you, your family, your children, and your future generations. His love on the cross was, is, and will be relevant for ages to come.

Take Up The Cross

When Jesus called his disciples, they left behind their livelihood – their fishing nets and boats, their tax collecting booths and money, their business and home. They thought Jesus was the one they had waited for all their lives, the Messiah that will help them overcome the Romans and restore Israel’s glory and bring independence. They thought they were going to be military. Eventually, they realized Jesus didn’t plan on fighting anytime soon. He was doing miracles and He even imparted power to the disciples to do miracles. The disciples probably thought of themselves to be superheroes now. Some disciples wanted to wanted to call fire down on a sinful people. They liked this even better. Military was powerful but being “avengers” was not just powerful but cool. Jesus then began talking about dying and the cross. The disciples didn’t like it. They didn’t want it. But Jesus kept intentionally moving towards the cross and called His disciples to take up their cross and follow him. Give up livelihood and take up the cross, possibly die (10 out of the 12 disciples died a martyr)? The disciples probably felt foolish or even remorseful. But something about Jesus drew them closer to him. Peter, the most popular disciple who was known for being brash and talkative, said, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words that give eternal life”.

Today, Jesus calls us too. He says, “come follow me”. It doesn’t always involve giving up your livelihood but there will be times when He will ask you to give up something that you hold dear so you can follow him fully and through that know God more fully. When he says follow me, it will involve a cross. At times, it might feel foolish, but He has words of life, eternal life. He will convict, challenge and transform you and its never going to be easy. Following Him is not going to be comfortable but it will be fulfilling and life giving. Take up that cross and follow him, you will not regret it. Life makes more sense when we take up the cross and follow Him.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26

Art Show Lessons

Last week I was part of an art show and I wanted to share my experience for other artists. As a Christian Artist, I have learnt that it is not always easy to get a spot in public settings. During one of my recent art show rejections, I was told that they may not be able to take art that’s religious and they did not. That doesn’t change anything for me when it comes to how I do art or life. In a public setting I’m always sensitive to the mixed crowd and never go in with the attitude of being insensitive to others’ right to believe differently than I do. Art is one place where you should have free expression, unhindered by boundaries and walls. I have come to realize that rejections, because of the nature of my art will continue to be inevitable. However, I am grateful that Art Week Des Moines organizers allowed me a chance and I consider it a gift. I had a similar great experience with the Limited Space organizers too. They allowed artists from all walks of life to showcase their art. Thanks to the organizers for that!

Messiag Collection
Live Art
Part of the Set up
Nature Collection
Part of the Set up

Once I set up the show, I was nervous about how people would react but still remained confident God would take care of the things that I cannot control. The audience that stopped by were more than kind and so were the other artists. Most of my audience stopped by to admire the beauty of the colors and stories behind some of the artwork. One woman stopped by to tell that the faith that she sees in these paintings inspires her. Another said the paintings had so much depth and value. Someone said that they can see my heart through these paintings and one person said that it was simply beautiful. One woman, who I don’t know if she had any kind of faith at all, said there was beauty in my paintings and some of the art she sees lately are very dark. One little boy was excited to see the white lion with golden eyes and he was happy he spotted Jesus in my paintings, a story he was familiar with. A little girl loved my flamingo from the Eden Collection. These feedbacks and many more help me believe that I need to continue doing what I love doing. Shining God’s love, beauty and His heart of peace to those that are around me. And if my art is rejected for that reason, I’m going to be okay with that.

The Spirit of God moved in that room during the show and the painting that I painted live revealed His heart too. God’s mathematics is always different than ours, so I am more than happy to let God do His thing while I paint what He puts in my heart.

Some take aways

– Family and community are important- for moral support, for helping with practical stuff and set up. My husband took the day off to be with me and my children helped me with cheering up the space. One of my friends helped haul the stuff back and forth. One friend let me borrow all of her easels. The people from DLR Group, downtown, des Moines were friendly and accommodated most of our requests. Grateful for all the love and trust that my community places on me.

– People are kinder than you think. Simply show up, even if you are an introvert.

– Let God control the things that you can’t.

When I am Wrong

I love when God comforts and encourages me. It’s a great feeling to know that God is on my side. However, there have been times when God wasn’t supportive of my choices and decisions. I’ve had situations in my life where I have been wrong, very wrong. Wrong words, wrong choices, and attitudes, unhealthy habits. At such times, I have heard God’s voice correcting me and convicting me. Sometimes, His voice is stern and authoritative which shakes your very being, and sometimes endlessly persuasive with love. Irrespective of how He does it, it is never fun. “I cannot be wrong”, the pride in me screams. In hindsight though, I am thankful for not letting me stay where I was, for guiding me into the right path, for the closed doors and the tough love.

People often ask me if I hear a loud voice when He talks. While my physical ears don’t always hear His voice, my soul recognizes it well. He often takes me to His Words and lets me know where I am wrong. He usually corrects me as I read His Words in the Bible. There are times He speaks straight to my heart and when that happens, I have learned(through some tough experiences) to not fully trust my feelings and emotions but to test the voice and go back to His Word to ensure it’s His voice. From my personal experience, the Bible is critical to discerning God’s voice and other voices (including but not limited to your own voice). Leave the Bible out and I can guarantee that you will be tossed around by every wave and emotion. Please don’t get me wrong here, as an artist, emotions are important to me. I don’t ever diminish the importance of emotions but I also know that my feelings are often very unreliable. Truth needs to stand the test of time and my emotions ebb and flow and I could be emotional for a completely different thing tomorrow. I cannot base the truth on my emotions even if my feelings are often true. Once I’ve come out of the initial roller coaster of emotions from a bad experience, I have learned that it is better to let God work on my heart. Without Him working on my heart, I can allow for my bad choices to take deeper root and transform me negatively. Without the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, I can become so set in my ways (imagine concrete) that whatever I do will always seem right and what others do will always seem wrong. The Scriptures are God-breathed and meant to correct and train us. If we are always reading the Bible with a hero/victim mindset, we can never receive the correction that God wants to offer.

To understand correction based on Scripture, we need to recognize the sinfulness of the human heart. The Scripture in multiple places affirms that humans are inherently sinful. Ever since the fall in the garden, our hearts tend toward unholiness and unrighteousness. There is no perfect human on this planet, not one. Don’t believe this? Look no further than a 1-year-old toddler who at the sound of the word “no” intentionally runs towards the exact thing that was off-limits. I remember when my kids were little, electric sockets were curious little things to be explored. I used to protect my children by childproofing them but they wouldn’t stop at that. They would do everything (till they got bored) to see if they could get their hands into them. When I set those socket covers, I was thinking of love, not torturing them with rules. As they grew up, I set up new boundaries appropriate for their age, for them to be safe while also growing and maturing in this life. As a mother, I see the benefits of these boundaries but my children, no matter what age they have been at, see it as an inconvenience and many times as an annoyance. Let’s be honest, no one wants to be corrected, including our little children, and yet universally we agree that correction is part of the parenting deal. We correct them because we believe that correction can be beneficial to the child in the long run. However, when it comes to Biblical correction, we somehow feel like either we are right all the time or that God is a cosmic killjoy who doesn’t trust us to make the right choices. Like any good parent, God wants the best for His children. If a little correction makes our walk with Him more intimate, if it helps us grow and mature spiritually and emotionally, He does it, even if He doesn’t really enjoy it. God’s correction is rooted in love.

So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. Deuteronomy 8:5

When God corrects us, it can be difficult for various reasons but here are a few that I have found to be true in my life during various circumstances. I still do these from time to time but recognizing it is useful when it happens again.

  • I am too proud to accept that I am wrong. My ego hurts. It’s easier to ignore the correction than to apologize.
  • I have created Jesus in my own image, a bobblehead Jesus, who says yes to all my thoughts and actions. Truth: This Jesus doesn’t exist. If Jesus is always saying yes to my decisions and actions and if I am never wrong, I can safely assume that I have created a false Jesus in my own image, who hates everyone I hate and hates everything I hate.
  • I don’t understand God’s heart for me. When He corrects me, I start thinking He is simply trying to make my life miserable. Simply put, there can be an underlying lack of trust in the character of God.
  • I compare with others and take the “what about them” mentality. I look at all the others who make the same choices as me and yet God seems to be correcting only me. This assumes that I know everything about the next person’s life and assumes that all our lives should look the same for the similar choices we make. This results in failing to acknowledge that correction is also part of the grace that Christ showed me when He first saved me.
  • The previous point brings us to – I don’t understand God’s sovereignty. God sees the end from the beginning. As imperfect parents, we provide safe zones for our children not knowing what will or won’t happen. God, on the other hand, knows what the end will look like, so when He corrects, He speaks not just out of wisdom but with complete knowledge about the future. Misunderstanding God’s sovereignty also leads to taking it upon ourselves to fix others while ignoring our own flaws.
  • The correction that leads to repentance may require cleaning up, which isn’t always easy. Apologies may have to happen. Confessions may have to happen. Coming face to face with other people and saying, “I was wrong”, is not easy. Correction may also lead to a complete change in life, which means committing to God working through our life and getting rid of the things that aren’t necessarily good for us. It can and most likely will get serious!

Here’s the thing, God will correct anyone who willingly surrenders their life to Him. He corrects us because He loves us. He welcomes us as we are but as we start walking with Him, He will surely transform us to become more like Him, because in Him there is righteousness and love. We will all know when He speaks. Would we acknowledge His voice and go back to His Word to discern it? And when we recognize we are on the wrong side, would we have the courage to accept it and repent? It is not easy, but so worth it, because in the end, it is life-giving! That’s the promise.

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

Pursue Peace

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

We live in a world divided over everything. The endless social media wars fueled by polarized media has led to more and more division. Yesterday I was reading a comments section for a social media post asking for help and inside that thread there was name calling and anger and frustration and one person saying they cannot sleep tonight because of a comment had caused offense to her. How did we get here? Never mind how we got here, but is there a way to learn to really live in peace with others around us?

In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, He discusses various important matters about salvation and towards the end, he gives valuable instructions on how to live in a community. This piece of scripture reveals an aspect that we tend to miss – ‘as far as it depends on you’. Living in peace with everyone is as much our responsibility as is theirs. It’s often easy to get offended by people’s words and actions and social media posts. It is true that offense is sometimes real. We will experience pain because of the actions of the people around us. We will feel anger and we will feel like engaging in the conflict and we will want to seek revenge. But most often, offense is mostly perceived. A random post on social media and we take it upon ourselves to fix the people on social media. We resort to anger or sarcasm and bullying. We seek revenge on people who we haven’t even met in person. When faced with something we disagree with, Scripture tells us to take the high road. To not engage in conflict but seek to maintain peace. We are called to actively pursue peace.

In the famous sermon on the mount, Jesus Himself says,

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

“Children of God”, now that’s a title we could all desire for. Peace is a gift that Jesus has already given us through His death and resurrection. That’s why Jesus is the Prince of Peace. However, we often destroy this gift by perpetuating conflict instead of pursuing peace. We do that because we somehow feel we are better than the next person. We feel like we are in power when we type angry or sarcastic words through our keyboards. We say, “They should be blamed for the lack of peace I feel”. Someone wrongs us and we take it upon ourselves to avenge ourselves. We laugh when they fall down and feel satisfied when they are proved wrong. Our brother, our sister in Christ – but we forget that and make the conflict worse. We have just as much responsibility towards peace as the next person and when we choose peace, we can spend our energy on things that matter. We can use our time and emotions to lift up and build others up. God desires to restore this world. He desires peace but we believe bulldozing our way through conflict is the only way to bring change. Nothing can be far from the truth. A conflict creator can never accomplish anything positive. On the other hand, the peacemaker, the peacemaker is called the child of God and that child is given the authority, by God, to co-create with Him, beauty from ashes. The peacemaker is given the authority to rebuild ruined cities and repair broken walls. The peacemaker builds, the conflict creator destroys. That’s how God’s kingdom works.

May we learn to be peacemakers. As much as we can, may we live at peace with everyone. May we learn to run from gossip and revenge and learn to seek harmony and peace within our communities.

Promises

My kids look to me and ask me for something and then say “Is that a promise?”, for which I always say, “I don’t make promises but I will do my best to make it happen”. There have been times when I haven’t been able to keep my word and my kids would be quick to catch me and say “…but you promised!” for which I always say “I never promised. I tried but I couldn’t get it done so you will have to wait”. I am extra careful before I give a word because I want the yes to be yes and a no to be a no but often I would fail. As much as I want to be a woman of word, even with the best of my intentions, I fail sometimes and I think that’s part of being human. We mess up. We are sometimes forgetful and we are simply not 100% perfect.

This notion of imperfection can sometimes be carried on to our relationship with God. We start thinking that God is imperfect, just like us. We start thinking that He will sometimes not keep His promises. Is that true? In a recent kids lesson, I heard the words “Truth is what is real.” So what is the reality about God’s character and His promises?

When God met with Moses, this is how He described Himself

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6

“Abounding in love and faithfulness” – that’s how God defines Himself. That’s an incredible statement about His character. King David and the various authors of the book of psalms describe God’s faithfulness time and time again. The book of psalms is in a way a celebration of God’s faithfulness. This is what one of the psalms reads –

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. Psalm 145:13 

God, by His very nature is incapable of breaking His promises. He is faithful to the end and His promises will always stand. He is faithful not because we deserve His faithfulness. He is faithful because that is who He is! He puts His name on the line when He makes a promise and He will stand by His word, even if it may look like there is no hope.

Why does God’s promises matter? Couldn’t we just be and not care about His promises? The thing about God’s promise is that it expands our vision. It enables us to see things as if they were, even before they happen. It allows us to set our eyes on something big when we are surrounded by the trials of life. It also keeps hope alive. Hope is the one thing that differentiates living and surviving. We don’t have to simply survive. His promises give us hope to live and thrive. What more? God’s promises act as a protection – like shield against the attack of the enemy. When doubts, fears and crippling anxiety take over, remind yourself of God’s promises and you will experience life and peace.

King David says it like this

He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Psalms 91:4

Hold on to God’s promises. If God has given you a promise, have faith that He will make it happen at the right time. When fear and doubts creep in, use the promise as your armor to protect yourself from the lies that you have come to believe. God is fully capable of seeing you through. Rest in His promises. Rest in His love. Rest knowing that He is faithful.

You Are Welcome At The Table

Have you ever read the story of David and Mephibosheth? If you haven’t, cluck the link to read the original story.

King David seeks out someone from the household of Saul to show God’s kindness because Saul’s son Jonathan was king David’s best buddy, a friend like a brother. Saul and Jonathan were dead and King David wanted to find someone from Saul’s family so that he could bless them for Jonathan’s sake. Eventually he finds Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s own son. Mephibosheth is lame and cannot take care of himself. The story indicates that he had a field but because Mephibosheth was lame, he most likely couldn’t even take care of the field. He was crippled for life and needed someone to take care of him. King David invites Mephibosheth to His palace and tells him that his field will be taken care of and he could eat at the King’s table every day. Mephibosheth recognizes how incredible it is that the King should look favorably at a nobody like him. What Mephibosheth experienced for the rest of his life was unmerited favor – grace. A man who was unfit to sit at the King’s table both because of his financial status and because of his bodily condition received a gift for his lifetime – a daily reserved spot at King’s table.

This story reflects God’s heart. When Jesus died on the cross, grace was unleashed on humanity. The table was no longer open only for the spiritually elite or rich. It was open for the Mephibosheths – the lame, the poor, the sick and the undeserving. That’s why it’s the good news!! Look at what Jesus said!

Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17

Religion says – be good, do this, don’t do this, don’t touch this, don’t eat this, pray this many times, give this much. Jesus says come as you are. If you already feel religiously elite and righteous, then Jesus probably isn’t for you. You see, when we think that all our religious works and good deeds can bring us salvation, we invalidate grace. Grace is only applicable when we recognize our need for such unmerited love. So, if you need such unmerited love, come! If you feel like a sinner, burdened by the weight of guilt, come. If you have messed up beyond repair, come. If you can’t love yourself, come. If you feel undeserving and unworthy, still come. The King’s table is open for anyone who appreciates His unmerited favor, His grace. It is open to anyone willing to accept His invitation. Come, you are welcome at the table!