Beside the Well
Michal’s is one of the many Bible love stories. It starts out so beautifully. The two young people, Michal and David, seem perfectly matched for each other. She is the princess. He is the poor shepherd boy who finds himself serving in the king’s court. The love between them is full and real. She loves him so much that she risks her life helping him escape and willingly protects him from the threatening of her father. As she kisses him goodbye that night, she never imagined an ill-fated relationship. Her young husband had already been anointed and was destined for the throne. She had only to wait for God to get everything into place before she could take her place beside him.
Her waiting turned into years. Her love grew cold. Disillusioned, she is given in marriage to another man—Phalti. Where is her hero now? Why didn’t he show up to defend his wife?
I can only imagine the heartache she felt. Every time she hears news of her husband. he is out fighting with castoffs and taunting her father. Her beloved brother, Jonathan, who had also risked his life for David, is now dead. David had even taken other wives. The beautiful dream had turned into a dark hole—a place of no hope. How would she ever become queen?
But then, the day comes. A messenger arrives announcing she is to be returned to David. The thing we don’t know is if she was happy in her marriage to Phalti. He was obviously happy with her because he followed along weeping as his wife is torn from the home.
The years of disappointment have taken their toll on Michal’s love for her first husband. As she resentfully takes her place, she becomes embarrassed at David’s actions among the people. His rejoicing in the streets with the commoners was, in her eyes, beneath the station of a king, and beneath her station as a princess. As she reprimands him, her fate is sealed. God’s judgment means she will be barren.
Life can certainly twist and turn, can’t it? What started out as a marriage with all possible potential, ended up with two bitter people on separate sides of the fence. She winds up raising her five nephews, only to see them hung as payment for her father’s killing of the Gibeonites, but she is not mentioned again.
It isn’t hard for us to see the source of her bitterness. Disappointment can be a hard pill to swallow and when you feel you have no control of your life, resentment and negativity can be the inevitable outcome. But must it be? Is there a different way to look at life when it doesn’t work out as you plan?
Obviously, there is, because we see others in the Bible who faced hard situations, like Joseph who took a bad situation and allowed the Lord to use it or Esther who saw herself placed in jeopardy for the salvation of her people. I don’t know what God might have done had Michal’s attitude been different, but I do believe the call to submission and acceptance without bitterness is God’s intention. What do you think?
Her waiting turned into years. Her love grew cold. Disillusioned, she is given in marriage to another man—Phalti. Where is her hero now? Why didn’t he show up to defend his wife?
I can only imagine the heartache she felt. Every time she hears news of her husband. he is out fighting with castoffs and taunting her father. Her beloved brother, Jonathan, who had also risked his life for David, is now dead. David had even taken other wives. The beautiful dream had turned into a dark hole—a place of no hope. How would she ever become queen?
But then, the day comes. A messenger arrives announcing she is to be returned to David. The thing we don’t know is if she was happy in her marriage to Phalti. He was obviously happy with her because he followed along weeping as his wife is torn from the home.
The years of disappointment have taken their toll on Michal’s love for her first husband. As she resentfully takes her place, she becomes embarrassed at David’s actions among the people. His rejoicing in the streets with the commoners was, in her eyes, beneath the station of a king, and beneath her station as a princess. As she reprimands him, her fate is sealed. God’s judgment means she will be barren.
Life can certainly twist and turn, can’t it? What started out as a marriage with all possible potential, ended up with two bitter people on separate sides of the fence. She winds up raising her five nephews, only to see them hung as payment for her father’s killing of the Gibeonites, but she is not mentioned again.
It isn’t hard for us to see the source of her bitterness. Disappointment can be a hard pill to swallow and when you feel you have no control of your life, resentment and negativity can be the inevitable outcome. But must it be? Is there a different way to look at life when it doesn’t work out as you plan?
Obviously, there is, because we see others in the Bible who faced hard situations, like Joseph who took a bad situation and allowed the Lord to use it or Esther who saw herself placed in jeopardy for the salvation of her people. I don’t know what God might have done had Michal’s attitude been different, but I do believe the call to submission and acceptance without bitterness is God’s intention. What do you think?
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