Day 14: Michal

Her name means "who is like God". She was the daughter of Saul, who was at first in love with David and later on resented him. Her relationship with David was a bittersweet one. She had loved the shepherd boy since the day he had calmed Saul’s troubled soul with his harp playing. After he defeated the hideous Goliath with only a sling and a stone, all Israel fell in love with him. But it was for Michal that David had slain two hundred Philistines — to prove his worth and that made Michal all the more in love with him. To Saul, the news of her daughter being in love with his greatest enemy was another chance for him to kill David. Saul saw his daughter Michal as a pawn. As bait. To David, it didn't matter which daughter he married, as long as he was the King's son in law. For him it was about being made a somebody. We see that clearly in his response to the King when he offered Mereb, his eldest daughter to be David's wife. David, embarrassed, answered, “Do you really mean that? I’m from a family of nobodies! I can’t be son-in-law to the king.” Killing the Philistines was something he could do to qualify him as the King's son in law. We see two sets of Michal at the window observing David. The first one is when she aids David's escape from her father who wanted to kill him. This was the Michal who was in love with David. Who would do anything for David. The second Michal is seen when David is entering Jerusalem, dancing and offering sacrifices to God. We see a bitter, scornful Michal who is detested by David's performance. In the first scene, Scripture paints her as David’s wife, in the second as Saul’s daughter. In fact, her attitude is so changed that we feel perplexed, watching her as she watches David. What had happened? How could a woman so in love with this shepherd boy move to utter distaste and hate for the same shepherd boy? Organised marriages were common during that time, so it couldn't have been that which stirred Michal's rage and bitterness. Maybe it's the fact that the love of her life had fled from his father and stayed away for a long time. Maybe she had expected David to be gone for a short time. Was her bitterness fueled by David's absence and his father, Saul, punishing her by marrying her off to another man? Was it because, after healing from emotionally losing David and making a life with the new husband, David came back and claimed as as his wife? She had she finally made peace with her new marriage only to be torn from her husband when David demanded her back after Saul’s death? Anna writes, Perhaps Michal’s bitterness swelled to rage when she realized she had always been someone else’s pawn, a mere woman manipulated by powerful men. Her own father used her, promising her to David in hopes she would prove a snare to him. And, finally, one of her brothers handed her back to David after Saul’s death, further legitimizing David’s claim to the throne. A princess, then a queen, she was still a slave. Bitterness and anger is powerfully deadly. When given an environment to brood and grow, it will not only kill what's around it, but even the person bearing the hate and anger is poisoned by it. Michal was an angry woman. She had gone through a whirwind of emotions which she didn't deal with. Life had dealt her unfair pieces. And she didn't deserve it. Well, no one really does. But it happened to her and she had a choice to either rise up from the ashes or allow the hate and bitterness mold her to the scornful woman that we see at the end. It really wasn't the fact that David was dancing. NO. It was an anger towards David himself that restricted her to see beyond David's actions to his genuine intentions and heart of worship. David could have as well as drank water, she would still find something negative to say. She had not dealt with her hurt. She had not dealt with the pain of all those years. And now her horns were showing. Maybe you are in the same boat with Michal. Life has been unfair to you in so many ways. Things have happened that you don't deserve. Maybe your spouse has hurt you in ways you never imagined. Maybe you've been betrayed by someone you dearly trusted. You have a right to be angry, scornful and bitter but I pray that you choose not to. Allow the Lord to heal you of that hurt and pain. Release it and let God soothe you with His everlasting love. My prayer to you today is that you let it go. It hurts, yes. It's painful, yes. But let it go. For the sake of your stability, let it go. For the sake of your health, let it go. It will do you more harm than good. Release that anger, let it go and let God heal you. Forgive yourself and forgive them. It is well Daughter of the Most Him. Michal is surrounded by men who don't have her best interests at heart. His father using her as a pawn in his quest to kill David. And David, only wanting to make a name for himself. The love she so deeply needed she was starved from. Oh, how she would flourish if only she had been looked at with other eyes - a beautiful young princess. She longed for a genuine relationship with a man (both father and husband). Sister, sister, you are beautiful and you deserve to be loved. Genuine, authentic love. It's not your fault that your worth is sometimes overlooked. You are a queen. And it's my prayer that you feed your soul with God's love for you. If you run to man for love, they might disappoint with the kind of love that they will offer you. But I know a God who will love you, not for what you have, or for your title. But a genuine, authentic love because you are the beloved of the Lord. May God's love for you be more than enough to fill in the gaps in life where you've not been loved enough. Who could ever separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love.