Michal

Sometimes love is not enough - especially if that love is little more than the strong emotional attraction that grows between a hero and an admirer. To Michal, Sual's daughter, the courageous young David must have seemed like a dream come true. Her feelings about this hero gradually became obvious to others, and eventually, her father heard about her love for David. He saw this as an opportunity to get rid of his rival for the people's loyalty. He promised Michal's hand in marriage in exchange for David's success in the impossible task of killing one hundred Philistines. But David was victorious, so Saul lost a daughter and saw his rival become even more popular with the people.

Michal's love for David did not have time to be tested by the realitities of marriage. Instead, she became involved in saving David's life. Her quick thinking helped him escape, but it resulted in Saul's anger and Michal's separation from David. Her father gave her to another man, Palti, but David eventually took her back.

Unlike her brother Jonathan, Michal did not have the kind of deep relationship with God that would have helped her through the difficulties in her life. Instead, she became bitter. She could not share David's joyful worship of God, so she hated it. As a result, she never bore David any children.

Michal mirrors our own tendencies. How quickly we become bitter with life's unexpected turns. But often, bitterness only makes a bad situation worse. On the other hand, a willingness to respond to God gives Him the opportunity to bring good out of difficult situations. We are not as responsible for what happens to us as we are for how we respond to our circumstances.