The conflict of a low self-esteem
TEACHER
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Lesson 2
BASIC BIBLICAL TEXT
2 Samuel 9.1-8
BASIC BIBLE TEXT
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.”
2 Samuel 9:1-3
BASIC BIBLE TEXT
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.
2 Samuel 9:4-6
BASIC BIBLE TEXT
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?”
2 Samuel 9:7-8
GOLDEN TEXT
Beat your plowshares into swords� and your pruning hooks into spears.�Let the weakling say,� “I am strong!”
Joel 3.10
AIMS
Understand that our limitations don’t define us;
Get that it’s possible to overcome failures;
Conclude that good opportunities in life need to be embraced.
INTRODUCTION
Self esteem is the opinion people have about themselves. Someone with a low self esteem is afraid of the future, painful memories and worries about the present. His or her thoughts are always negative.
The Bible presents a classic example of someone with a very low self esteem, Mephibosheth.
1. WHO WAS MEPHIBOSHETH?
Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. Despite the despise Saul had for David, Jonathan was a dear friend. Saul and Jonathan died at a battle in Gilboa. At that time, Mephibosheth was only five years old.
With the news that the king and his son had died, the kid’s nurse took him with her and ran away. On the hurry, he fell from her arms, getting an injury which let him disabled. He was taken to Machir’s house, at LoDebar.
1.1. David worries about Saul’s family
When David was already king, he searched for Saul’s family to see if there was anyone alive, for he wished to take care of any survivors from the family.
The former butler of Saul let David know about Mephiboshet. Ziba also informed David about his disability. The King sent people to get him.
1.2. Mephiboshet is brought back to palace life
The economic conditions of Mephiboshet’s life are unknown, but the honors inside the palace were beyond compare. David invited him to live in the palace and gave him the fortune Saul had left. Mephiboshet would always eat at the king’s table.
2. MEPHIBOSHET, AN UNHAPPY FORTUNATE PERSON
Instead of expressing gratitude to the king for his generosity, he put out his inferiority complex: Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” (2Sm9.8)
What was there in his heart that made him make such a bad declaration about himself?
2.1. The ugly duckling complex
Dogs were considered an impure animal by the Hebrew people. A dead dog was even worse. He didn’t need to go that far – he was a prince after all. Considering himself a
dead dog was unnecessary. Many people also carry the ugly duckling complex. What if his disability play a part in his declaration to the king?
2.2. Denial
Does a person with a low self esteem see the opportunities in life with enthusiasm or suspicious that those things aren’t for them?
Great opportunities are missed because people think they are below the mark, not even trying to get them.
3. ZIBA’S PLOT AGAINST MEPHIBOSHETH
In the peak of David’s suffering for his son Absalom, who conflicted with him for the throne, Ziba schetched a scene to harm Mephibosheth and look good by the King’s eyes.
Ziba’s plot went as expected: Mephibosheth got poor and Ziba got rich.
3.1. Mephiboshet’s family meets David
Absalom died in a battle. After crying a lot, David went back to Jerusalem and Mephibosheth went to meet him. The king asked him why he didn’t go in the battle and he explained Ziba misled him.
David went back on his decision against Mephibosheth and gave him back half of what he had given to Ziba. His self esteem remained low, he felt like the last of the creatures on earth, because he wouldn’t be able to plot against the king.
3.2. Distortion of self image
Mephibosheth needed to face his childhood trauma, his accident, his relatives’ death, leaving the palace and being adopted by Machir, losing the prince condition to live like a commoner, the difficulty to walk and maybe the shame of his physical looks. For sure those conditions condributed for him to have a negative self image. He related to himself the worst way possible.
3.3. Building a good self image
The value of someone who is well with Christ are the supreme and ethic values. They are beyond any disability or human need.
All of us feel our limitations and not always can achieve all we want in life, but those occasions should not let us down and make us believe we’re not able.
What matters most is how you see yourself.
CONCLUSION
Our self image should be constructed by us, from what the word of God talks about us. There are two paths to follow: believing the bad versions about or personality or defining who we are through the construction of God in our life.
If we carry any trauma that affects our well being and if we fing in ourselves things that bother us and we can’t change, we need to learn how to deal with that, in an optimistic perspective.
May God bless
your life!
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