Psychological studies establish that by age five a child has formed a fairly definite impression of himself. The same studies reveal that self-esteem is not closely related to social position, family work background, education or any combination of such factors. A young child sees himself from the reflections of those close to him, mainly his parents. How they react to his activities largely determines the self image he builds ¹.  Having a wrong self-image can absolutely hinder God’s plan for your life. How can we identify and change a negative self-image?

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2 Samuel 9:6-8 (KJV)
6 Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! 7 And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. 8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

The Image of Dead Dogs

• The verses above show the interaction between David and Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan.
• Jonathan was David’s best friend on planet earth.
• So much so, that David entered into a blood covenant with Jonathan.
• As it turns out, Jonathan dies in battle along with his father, King Saul.
• Mephibosheth was five years old when Jonathan died.

2 Samuel 4:4 (KJV)
4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

• Note the reaction of the nurse. Instead of running to David because of the covenant relationship, they run away from it. Mephibosheth falls and comes up lame.
• One cannot help but see the New Testament imagery here.
• When you run from the New Covenant that was established in Jesus blood, all you end up doing is falling and coming up lame and crippled in life.
• Those responsible for the young child’s safety flee to and hide in a place called Lodebar

DEFINITION: Lodebar means pasture-less.

• Since Israel was an agricultural society, pasture-less is not the place where you want to be!
• Pasture-less, or without a pasture is a picture of poverty.
• Remember the 23rd Psalm?

Psalm 23:1–2 (ESV)
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

• Again, the lesson is plain to see. When you run from the covenant, you will not prosper spiritually, physically, financially over the long haul. Because the nature of God’s covenant is provision.
• The next phase of the story shows David inquiring further about fulfilling his end of the covenant in 2Sam 9:1-8.
• Notice the phrase, the ‘kindness of God’ and observe its connection to the blood covenant.

QUESTION: Do you remember that kindness is one of the descriptors of love in 1Cor. 13:4?

1 Corinthians 13:4 (GW)
4 Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant.

• Showing kindness or love is blood covenant terminology.
• For Christians, for believers in Jesus, for born again blood washed believers kindness is the trumpet of the New Covenant.
• Pay attention to Mephibosheth’s reaction to all of David’s kindness.
•  He does not understand what’s going on.
• He doesn’t believe in or perceive the nature of the covenant his father had cut.
• Look at how Mephibosheth views himself.
• He views himself as a dead dog!
• Mephibosheth was in covenant with David and he could have had anything of David’s because of that covenant. Instead of seeing himself as a royal heir, he sees himself as a dead dog instead.
• All those years that he was away from David in Lodebar, he could have been living like royalty.
• All of those years, he scratched out a meager existence.
• If David had not been kind enough to search Mephibosheth out, he would still have been there in that state, pasture-less, broken down and lame.

I want you to know today that your Father God sought you out while you were in the midst of the pasture-less land. He pursued you when you were lame, broken down and lost.  And out of the kindness of His goodness, He declared to you His Word. He has sent messengers, prepared preachers to minister it to you. His Word to you is that you don’t have to view yourself as a dead dog. You can come and eat at the King’s table.

• Again the words of the Psalmist come to mind.

Psalm 23:5 (NKJV)
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

• You can sit at the table today. Right now, because you have accepted Jesus. You have received the blood of the sacrifice of His Son.
• But, many are not eating at the table.
• The reason why they are not eating is because of how they see themselves.
• They see themselves as unworthy.
• They see themselves as rejected.
• They do not have the right image of themselves.
• They don’t see themselves as very sons of the Most High God.

The Image of Grasshoppers

Numbers 13:1-2, 17, 21, 26,-28, 33 (KJV)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.  17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were IN OUR OWN SIGHT AS GRASSHOPPERS, and so we were in their sight.

• How did the children of Israel view themselves when it came to life’s difficulties?
• How did they view themselves when they came to the obstacles that they were confronted with?
• They viewed themselves as grasshoppers.
• They were also in covenant relationship with the Most High God.
• God had sworn to Abraham, sworn in blood to give him the land.

Genesis 17:7–8 (NKJV)
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

• But, their ‘grasshopper’ image totally paralyzed them, completely filled them with fear.
• They felt they could not accomplish. They felt they could not overcome.
• It wasn’t the giants that overcame them.  The giants didn’t even lift a sword.  A giant did not wound a single Israelite, not one of them.  Not one drop of Israelite blood was shed at the hand of any giant.  Yet they were totally and completely defeated.
• Why? Because they had a grasshopper image.

What Kind of Image Do You Have of Yourself?

• You can have a dead dog or a grasshopper image or you can have an I can do all things through Christ image.

Call to Action:

The choice is actually a simple one. Will you choose to believe what God says about your life, your purpose, your talents, and your calling? Will you believe that you are a world overcomer or will you continue to view yourself as a dead dog or a grasshopper? Life is all about tradeoffs. You can trade in your inferior image of yourself for His superior image of your life.

Episode Resources

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1. Dead Dogs and Grasshoppers [Post]

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Question: What can you add to this thread? How have you overcome a dead dog or grasshopper image?

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