For example, she fell in love with a wonderful, God-fearing man called David, and her father, King Saul, seemed delighted about this. Imagine her shock and disillusionment when she discovered that Saul was jealous of David and was actually trying to arrange for David to be killed in battle, so that he would never in fact become Michal's husband. (1 Samuel 18: 20 - 28)
However, David returned victorious from the battle and Michal was able to marry her dream man after all. It soon became apparent, though, that Saul was still trying to kill him, and Michal had to conspire against her own father in order to help her husband escape and run for his life. (1 Samuel 19: 11 - 17)
Many years passed with David on the run and, during that time, Saul gave Michal in marriage to another man, someone called Palti. The Bible doesn't tell us much about Michal's marriage to Palti. Did she come to love him, and settle down happily with him? Or did she pine for David, waiting and hoping for the day when he would send for her, and find a way for them to be together again?
But that didn't happen. David was living in the land of the Philistines at the time, while Michal stayed in Israel with her family and with her new husband. Perhaps that's when the disappointment and bitterness began to take hold of her. Did she feel perhaps that David had forgotten her and no longer cared for her? Did she hear the news that he had taken other wives and had children by them?
(2 Samuel 3: 2 - 5)
It was only after her father died and David had become king in Judah, that he contacted Michal's brother, Ishbosheth, and said, "Give me back my wife, Michal, because I bought her with the lives of a hundred Philistines." (2 Samuel 3: 14)
I wonder how Michal felt on hearing this. Was she overjoyed that David had sent for her at last, or did she feel dishonoured that she was referred to like a piece of property to be bought and sold? Did she look forward to being reunited with David, or was she heartbroken at being separated from Palti, the man who had been her husband for many years now? We read in vs 15 - 16 that Palti wept bitterly at losing his wife and followed her disconsolately until King Ishbosheth finally sent him home.
And so Michal became David's wife again.... but something had shifted in their relationship, and she was clearly feeling bitter - bitter, perhaps, at the way she'd been neglected for years; bitter at being only one of several wives and seeing that some got more of his attention than she did; bitter at being torn away from Palti and not having any say in the matter; resentful, perhaps, that her love for David had cost her so much; bitter about the circumstances that had sabotaged her dreams of true love and happy-ever-after.
So things come to a head in 2 Samuel chapter 6, when the Ark of God is being returned to Jerusalem and King David is dancing exuberantly as he worships the Lord. Michal watched from her window, and she felt contempt and judgement in her heart. Her bitterness spilled over in harsh, accusing and judgemental words towards David (vs 16, vs 20) And the chapter ends, vs 23, by telling us that Michal remained barren and childless throughout her whole life.
What a sad story! We can understand why Michal felt sorry for herself, and perhaps we feel sorry for her too. But there's also a message here that we would do well to heed in our own lives: whenever we allow resentment, bitterness and judgement to take hold of us, it invariably leads to barrenness in our lives. In Michal's case, it was physical infertility and childlessness. In our case, it can lead to spiritual barrenness. We're still Christians, but we're aware of a noticeable lack of fruitfulness in our lives. We're not experiencing the fruit of peace, joy and intimacy with God. We're not seeing the good fruit of friends and family members coming to the Lord. We struggle to have a sense of vision and purpose for our life...
It doesn't matter whether our bitterness is against God, against the church or against a particular person. When we allow it to send its roots deep into our hearts, it will always lead us into barrenness.
That's no doubt why the New Testament (Hebrews 12: 15) warns us to watch out for any root of bitterness, knowing that it will not only bring barrenness to ourselves, but can also spread its poison to many others that we come in contact with. How important it us to deal with hurts and offences quickly, before they morph into bitterness and judgement within our own minds and hearts. By God's grace, we can rise above life's hard times, and move into abundance instead of barrenness.
