Life Group Study Charlotte Gambill – The Gap Called Lo Debar (21/06/20) Recap In this message, Pastor Charlotte continues this powerful series about the spiritual distancing gaps inside our lives, focusing this particular message on the feeling of unfairness, calling it the gap of Lo Debar. Some of us may be feeling that this is one of the worst seasons we have been through; because of everything some of us have gone through, we may feel we have been dealt an unfair hand. We see ourselves in a circumstance we have not created, but have to handle and live through. We have to know in that gap how to navigate it well because if we are not careful, it can develop in us a feeling that God has left us and a feeling of resentment towards others around us. But we can’t let the enemy win: we have to realize that God is with us, that He is for us, and that He is going to do something phenomenal through our circumstance. Lo Debar was an actual place in ancient Israel and it meant “place of no pasture”, “place of no communication”, and “place of nothing”. People would be sent to that obscure place because of the circumstances of their life that treated them unfairly. As we look through the Bible, we can read the stories of countless people who have been treated unfairly; however we see in their stories that there is also something else which is not fair: God’s favor. God’s favor is the unmerited grace and goodness that He pours out when He chooses, however He chooses, to whomever He chooses. God has a way to pour out His favor in the moments where we feel in that place of unfair circumstances. We read in 2 Samuel 4:4 about the start of story of Mephibosheth – someone who was supposed to be the heir to a throne, but sees himself disabled, orphaned and exiled in Lo Debar because of circumstances that he didn’t deserve. In this preach, Pastor Charlotte explores the powerful story of how the favor of God restored this man, in 3 main points:
1. The status life gives you does not alter the significance within you We can end up giving too much importance to status, in our lives. And when that is removed from us by circumstance, we may feel stopped from having something to contribute with, or feel we lost our value. The status titles we put on ourselves can end up limiting us, especially when circumstances change. We see that Mephibosheth’s title of prince was in the past, but that did define him or even change the significance of his life. As God saw significance in Mephibosheth’s life and many others that were apparently not significant (like Gideon, Moses, Mary or Saul), God sees that same significance in our lives as well. We need to stand up and remember whose we are, as God’s favor is on its way to change our circumstance. We read in 2 Samuel 9:1-5 how God put this young man on King David’s mind. We understand that in the same way, God’s favor will put our name on someone’s mind. The friendships that we have gained because of our “status” are nothing compared to the friendships that favor will bring into our life; friendships that are all to do with our significance. David is used by God to bring Mephibosheth from a forgotten place of unfair circumstances to a favored place with the King.
2. Lo Debar may be your location but it’s not your final destination Lo Debar was a temporary place for Mephibosheth, and it is a temporary place for us as well. We are not meant to move into these unfair circumstances permanently: The address of our life is not meant to be “Lo Debar”. The Bible tells us in Psalm 23 that the Lord is our shepherd; He makes us lie down in green pastures and walks us through the darkest valleys. By reading this we can understand that we are not meant to lie down in the darkest valleys and walk quickly past the green pastures! No, it is the other way around! We have to get up from those dark valleys we are seeing ourselves in and realize that place is not meant to be our final destination. If we allow Lo Debar to be our final destination, we will miss the invite of favor for relocation. Mephibosheth might have felt unqualified and unprepared when the king’s servant reached him and invited him to leave the place he was in and meet David in his palace, but the young man obeyed because something in him knew in that moment that Lo Debar was not meant to be the end of his story.
3. Your infirmity is not your identity, it can be your authority When people would refer to Mephibosheth, they would normally call him by his infirmity (“the crippled”, “the one that was lame in both feet”). In fact, when he comes before David in 2 Samuel 9:6-8, and the king says that all the land of Mephibosheth’s father and grandfather would be restored to him, and that he would have a place at the king’s table, Mephibosheth’s answer is one of inferiority. The longer we stay in Lo Debar, the more we will start to identify with our brokenness and our infirmity. However, we need to understand that God is calling us to leave that behind us. In this story, God’s favor not just restored Mephibosheth’s possessions, but also restored his authority. He was not only given back everything he had lost, but God gave him even more than he had before his unfair circumstance.
God’s favor is unfair in the best possible way: it doesn’t just do one thing, it takes care of everything. It does way more than anything or anyone else could do for us. God’s favor took this disabled and exiled man whose name was forgotten for so many years, to a place in the castle where his name started being spoken with reverence and authority. The name “Mephibosheth” was no longer connected to shame, but it found back its true meaning (“the destroyer of shame”) through God’s favor. His favor will find us, and it will move us from a place of shame to a place where that shame is destroyed and we become a restored voice of authority for the new future before us.
Scripture
2 Samuel 4:4 (NIV) 4 Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.
2 Samuel 9:1-8 (NIV) 1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. 3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” 4 “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” 5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. 6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. 7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” 8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
Psalms 23:1-4 (NIV) 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Questions 1. What are some of the unfair circumstances you are seeing yourself in, this season? 2. In which areas of your life have you allowed yourself to settle for unfairness? 3. What can your life group pray for you specifically about, to bring freedom in those areas? 4. How can you be used by God to bring His favor unto someone else’s life, this week?
Prayer 1. Pray for God to help you see that the unfairness you might be in is not your identity. 2. Thank God because of the restoration you will surely experience through His favor. 3. Pray for God to anoint you to be a vessel of His favor for the ones paralyzed or injured by shame and unfair circumstances.