Musings from Michal

Last Monday the Lord used a rather unfamiliar and infamous woman of the Old Testament to teach me a lesson on my own femininity. As I wrote in my devotional journal (as so often happens) my mind went to ‘blog-post mode’, and ever since it’s been in the back of my mind, on my ‘to-do list’, to rewrite and post on here. By God’s grace, here it goes!!! J Let’s do our devotions together! :-)

(Please begin by asking the Lord to speak to your heart and make you ‘speak-to-able’! :-) ♥)

1 Samuel 19:11-17 

“Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.  And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped?”

As David’s wife, Michal now had a perfect opportunity to shine the truthful and very best possible light on her husband, flesh of her flesh.

Yet to the person with whom it would actually cause the very most damage (her father Saul, David’s self-proclaimed enemy—(1 Samuel 19:17)) she told a lie and said that David had threatened to kill her had she not aided him in escaping from her father.

“And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?”

First of all, we know enough of David’s character at this point to be able to safely assume that he would do no such thing as to threaten to kill his very wife!

But secondly, we know that this is a lie because the Bible tells us what went on before Saul and his men came on the scene, and no threats were involved. So, clearly—and sadly—Michal lied. :-(

Michal had the perfect opportunity to soften her father’s heart toward her innocent husband (as her own brother Jonathan did early on in this very same chapter!!!) by reminding her father of all the good and right things David had done by God’s grace and how the Lord had clearly used David time and time again to aid Saul’s kingdom! But instead, Michal drops the ball and tells a lie—one that instead of building up her husband in the eyes of her father tore him down—one that no doubt only cemented in Saul’s mind the self-consuming mantra “David must die!”

Most of us probably know what it’s like to hear someone close to us tear down another person who is dear to our hearts. Perhaps you have heard parents disagree with each other in front of you and your siblings, or had one parent disagree with the other in his or her absence. And surely we’ve all had friends (or should we say “acquaintances”!? J) tear down our other friends (AKA GOSSIP) when they are conveniently not aroundL. We know what it’s like to hear people tear each other down with unkind words.

We know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to hear someone gossip about another (out of pure or selfish spite) and I know how it’s done—I’ve done it before, and sadly because I am a fleshly human shall surely do it again :-(

But this is so wrong.

(I’m not telling you anything you don’t know! :-( )

And what about the way I tear down others at church in front of my younger siblings??? :-( Or (worse yet! :( ) how about how I tear down one sibling (‘s behavior) to another?!? :-( :-( :-( OUCH!

Now, of course, we need to be extremely careful because, even though the world likes to misquote Scripture to make it sound otherwise, we are, as Christians, to exercise righteous judgment, (as opposed to biased, or ‘judgmental’ judgment :D). The judgment we pass may be righteous, just, and even necessary judgment! (See Matthew 7:1-6, James 2:12-13 (and Psalms 37:30?), for more in-depth study on Godly judgment!) So before we open our mouths ‘against’ another sibling or church member or friend, I need to pray for wisdom and righteous, Godly judgment and think ‘is this TRUE, NECESSARY, and/or KIND?’! And if it passes those three tests and is backed up by a prayer for God’s guidance, we may safely proceed.

We don’t normally think of Michal as someone we can learn anything from, because she doesn’t set a positive example; but we can learn from her mistakes and use her not-so-good example to help us make good decisions! :D

What we can learn from Michal in the passage is, in a BROAD SENSE, to speak of others in the BEST POSSIBLE LIGHT. I would say especially fellow believers to non- and other fellow believers alike. But, even more personally, and as Daughters at home (if that happens to be how the Lord has led you! :D) and definitely as Future Wives, we, as young ladies, need to learn to speak of our husbands (to everyone—our friends, our children, our parents…) in the best possible light. How can we learn to speak well of our husbands while we are still unmarried, one may ask?  While we are still unmarried and in our father’s house, we need to practice this by speaking of our fathers (and our mothers) in the best possible light! To speak to your friends, extended family, and your younger brothers and sisters with respect to your parents and their decisions, whether or not you agree with them. Not to speak derogative things about them to others (complain that you can’t go over to so-and-so’s house; gripe over the fact that dad doesn't like how low the neckline is, or how mom wouldn't let you buy that tight skirt…etc…) , but to promote their attributes—the good things they do—when given the chance! (Which means we need to be on the look out for those attributes!

We need to see the good in others! Don’t just always see and focus on the bad!!!)

Also, we can learn to speak to (and of) our siblings (as if they were our future children!!!) about other family members and church family in the best possible light and/or with Godly, righteous judgment!

May we, by God’s grace, seek to see and praise the good in others—not to zero in on and publicize the bad!