Notes from a Living Youth

The Life of Michal - Pastor Jon - 9/1/19

1 Samuel 17:25
"'Have you seen the giant?' the men asked. 'He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!'"
Like King Saul in the verse, God is willing to do anything to have us. Jesus was the price to buy us back from the world.

1 Samuel 18:20
"In the meantime, Saul's daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it."
The word used in the original text for Michal "falling in love" with David is actually used to describe a purely carnal feeling, a desire for a child and family like one desires food and water. It was a true term of love.

The foundation for a permanent covenant relationship cannot be made out of a temporary attraction or a skin-deep desire.

The world will use your desires to destroy your covenant with the Lord.

John 16:33
"'I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.'"

1 Samuel 18:20-29
"In the meantime, Saul's daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it. 'Here's another chance to see him killed by the Philistines!' Saul said to himself. But to David he said, 'Today you have a second chance to become my son-in-law!'
Then Saul told his men to say to David, 'The king really likes you, and so do we. Why don't you accept the king's offer and become his son-in-law?'
When Saul's men said these things to David, he replied, 'How can a poor man from a humble family afford the bride price for the daughter of a king?'
When Saul's men reported this back to the king, he told them, 'Tell David that all I want for the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins! Vengeance on my enemies is all I really want.' But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight.
David was delighted to accept the offer. Before the time limit expired, he and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. Then David fulfilled the king's requirement by presenting all their foreskins to him. So Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to be his wife.
When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and how much his daughter Michal loved him, Saul became even more afraid of him, and he remained David's enemy for the rest of his life."

Those in worldly covenant will lie about their intentions. Saul claimed he wanted the foreskins as a form of payment and as vengeance, but in his heart he only wanted David dead.

Those in worldly covenant will fear your faith when it doesn't die, and they will become an enemy to it.

1 Samuel 19:11-17
"Then Saul sent troops to watch David's house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, ' If you don't escape tonight, you will be dead by morning.' So she helped him climb out through a window, and he fled and escaped. Then she took an idol and put it in his bed, covered it with blankets, and put a cushion of goat's hair at its head.
When the troops came to arrest David, she told them he was sick and couldn't get out of bed.
But Saul sent the troops back to get David. He ordered, 'Bring him to me in his bed so I can kill him!' But when they came to carry David out, they discovered that it was only an idol in the bed with a cushion of goat's hair at its head.
'Why have you betrayed me like this and let my enemy escape?' Saul demanded of Michal.
'I had to,' Michal replied. 'He threatened to kill me if I didn't help him.'"

Despite helping David, Michal still had only her interests at heart. She acted out of her so-called love to help him but reacted out of fear when she was confronted.

2 Timothy 1:3-7
"Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.
I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."

Those in worldly covenant will eventually demand a demonstration of faith.

We are not in covenant with this world anymore. The old man is dead.

1 Samuel 25:44
"Saul, meanwhile, had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to a man from Gallim named Palti son of Laish."

2 Samuel 3:12-13
"Then Abner sent messengers to David, saying, 'Doesn't the entire land belong to you? Make a solemn pact with me, and I will help turn over all of Israel to you.'
'All right,' David replied, 'but I will not negotiate with you unless you bring back my wife Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come.'"

Even after her betrayal, David respected and honored the covenant between Michal and himself, and put at stake his claim to the entirety of Israel to do so. Like this, God does not forget his covenant with us, and He will never give up on or leave it.

2 Samuel 6:16-23
"But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.
They brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord.
When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Heaven's Armies. Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust,* 'How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!'
David retorted to Michal, 'I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!' So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life."

*The original word used here is "bazah", which translates to "to think of as vile or worthless". Michal was looking at the king of Israel, appointed by God, a man after God's own heart, and thought of him as worthless simply because he danced before God without caring who was watching.

In those final verses, Michal was stripped of that which she desired most. She "loved" David because of his ability to give her what SHE wanted, children. Because of her selfishness, she was left childless. Other verses describe of her attempts to adopt children as her own, and each of these children died shortly after. Her selfish desires led to the desires themselves being taken from her.

If you're still mentally married to the world, you won't find enjoyment in Spirit-filled celebration.