Michal

Day 1

Michal "Who is like God?"

Michal was a women of strong emotions, she was unable to control the important circumstances of her life. Forcibly separated from two husbands, she lost her father and her brother, who were savaged by their enemies.

Her sorrow: That she was ensnared in the drawn-out battle between Saul and David.

Her Joy: Though short-lived, she enjoyed a passionate love for David.

Key Scripture:
1 Samuel 18:20-29
20 Now Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 "I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law."
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: "Speak to David privately and say, 'Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.' "
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, "Do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law? I'm only a poor man and little known."
24 When Saul's servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, "Say to David, 'The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.' " Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.

1 Samuel 19:11-17
11 Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, "If you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed." 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats' hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, "He is ill."
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, "Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him." 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats' hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, "Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?" Michal told him, "He said to me, 'Let me get away. Why should I kill you?' "

2 Samuel 6:16-23
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [f] before the LORD. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Day 2

Worship

Sacrifices and offerings were an important part of worship in Old Testament times. Since sin separated the worshiper from God, sacrifice was needed to reestablish the relationship and make true worship possible.

God makes it clear that he won't be satisfied with only the forms of worship. Sacrifices and music and dancing have no meaning apart from a heart and life truly dedicated to the Lord. God's words to the prophet Micah (6:6-8) clearly state this truth:

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Michal's contempt for her husband David reveals her own lack of true dedication. she was content to be critical spectator rather than a true worshiper of God. Whenever anyone puts appearances or tradition or from above a true desire to worship our God and Savior, we'd best step carefully... and read the words of God to Micah the prophet, which are as true today as they were for the Israelites of the prophet's day.

Day 3

2 Samuel 6:16-23
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings [f] before the LORD. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Why do you think Michal reacted as she did? Why do you suppose she was in her room watching the scene from the window instead of in the crowd participating?

How often do you merely watch worship rather than participate in it? What needs to happen in order from you to become a participant instead of a spectator?

How often are you more concerned with appearances than you should be? Why? What can you do to change?

What is David trying to tell Micah here? Do you think Michal had any idea of the depth of love David had for God? Why or why not?

How hard would it be from you to claim verse 22, as David does here? Do you think God wants this sort of submissiveness from everyone? Why or why not?

Day 4

Promises in Scripture

... ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. ~1 Chronicles 16:29

"Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. ~Nehemiah 9:5-6

Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God. ~Psalm 95:6-7

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ~Psalm 100:4

Day 5

Reflect on: 1 Samuel 19:11-17; 2 Samuel 6:16-23

Praise God: Because he is the same--yesterday, today and forever.

Offer thanks: That God gives us the freedom to choose how we will respond to him.

Confess: Allowing skepticism or cynicism to infiltrate your faith.

Ask God: To increase your awe of him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the chance to be in intimate relationship with you. May you find joy in our worship. Give each one of us the strength to worship on the outside the way we feel in our hearts. Help us Lord set aside our ideas of what may be appropriate to the world around us so that we may experience all that you have planned for us.