Good morning sisters!

There are two mayor topics or lessons  I found in these 3 chapters from 2 Samuel:

1.- The Power of a covenant - Called to be a blessing

David desired to bless someone in Saul's family because of the covenant he had made with his friend Jonathan. 

David's covenant relationship with Jonathan included all of Jonathan's children.

I believe that just as David was looking for someone to bless, for Jonathan's sake, God looks for people to bless for Jesus' sake. God is merciful, gracious and kind. He constantly extends His love and mercy toward us, the only thing we need to do is to be willing to accept it.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

    His mercies never cease.

 Great is his faithfulness;

    his mercies begin afresh each morning. 

Lamentations 3:22-23

In covenant, we offer God what we have...all of our sins, faults, weaknesses and failures, in exchange He gives us His ability, righteousness and His strength. He takes our poverty and gives us His riches. He takes our diseases and sicknesses and gives us His healing and health. He takes our messed up, failure-filled past and gives us bright and hopeful futures.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6

We don't have to talk God into being good to us. That's who HE IS. He is looking for someone to bless for Jesus' sake.

Today make the decision to receive what you don't deserve,  receive what you have not earned and when you do, you'll start experiencing God's awesome grace, which is freely available to all who receive it!

2.- Dead-Dog image (on low self-esteem)

As David looked for Jonathan's descendants, he discovered his friend's crippled son, Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth, was living in less-than-desirable circumstances.

He was living in a small town called Lo-debar, Lo-debar, means "pasture-less", this could represent a place of poverty...In other word words, lifeless.

I think most of the times, when our self-image is poor, we tend to choose surroundings that fit the way we feel about ourselves. I'm not talking about geographical places necessarily, as many times, we don't really get to choose where to reside.

I'm taking about the way, we present ourselves...the way we dress perhaps? For example, the way some people are filled with low self-esteem that they will not even bother to try to dress or look nice. 

On the other hand, we have the opposite extreme. People who feel so bad about themselves inwardly that they will try to hide by becoming perfectionists outwardly.

Truth is, that the way we feel about ourselves reflects on the outside.

What we need to realize is that God wants to bless us regardless our imperfections. Our worth and value are not in the outward things but knowing in our hearts who we really are in Christ.

Our imperfections cannot and will never stop God from working in our lives. God  does not want us to live in a barren, lifeless place...He has called us to experience His unlimited kindness and love! He delights in being merciful!

Could you imagine being an Israelite? To be one of God’s chosen people, pulled from bondage with the promise of a better life in a land flowing with milk and honey? To witness His miracles firsthand and be surrounded in His loyalty and protection? Now can you imagine after experiencing all of that love and glory rejecting the One who gave it? That’s just what the people of Israel did, and sadly what many of us do as well.

Throughout the Bible, God is called glorious. He is the Lord and King of glory, and His glory is above all the earth. And because He possesses a glory that is too bright, a righteousness that is too pure, and a greatness that is too powerful, no one can see God in His fullness and live. (Ex. 33:20) Yet even though we might not be able to see Him face to face, His glory is on full display all around us just as it was for the people of Israel. 

The book of Exodus is filled with example after example of God showering His glory upon His chosen people. He guided them, provided for them, and protected them. And because they saw physical manifestations of His glory, which both awed and scared them, they pledged to make Him their God and to follow Him in obedience. And just as quickly as they promised their faithfulness, they took it away and gave it to a golden calf. This got me to thinking, how many times have I been like the Israelite's. Quick to vow to follow the Lord only to turn around and do just the opposite.

How easy is it to make a covenant with God when we feel surrounded in His glory. Maybe it’s because of a received blessing, an answered prayer, or a need fulfilled. We feel close to Him spiritually, physically, and emotionally. We promise to never forsake Him, to faithfully follow His will and not our own. And then we go about our business, letting our focus wander on things other than our relationship with the Lord. We spend our time and energy pursuing our fleshly desires and instead of trusting Him, attempt to meet our needs on our own. 

But the wonderful news is this. No matter how much we reject God, He will never reject us. When we honestly repent and call out to Him, He forgives us and welcomes us back into His loving arms. The iworship Bible gives us a great challenge. “Picture yourself standing before God, insignificant in the light of His glory. Let God’s greatness resonate in your spirit and change your posture. God yearns to greatly impact and work in the lives of those who humble themselves in this way.” So I ask you this. Will you remove the idols from your life and make a solid and everlasting commitment to the One true Lord of glory?