It was a day for rejoicing. At least it should’ve been.
When David realized his mistake in transporting the ark, and saw how God was blessing the home of a man named Obed-Edom, who was watching over the ark, David decided it was time to bring it into Jerusalem.
He gathered the Levites, the musicians and singers, the elders of Israel, and the entire army to help transport the ark. And as they did, David started dancing and celebrating along with all of Israel.
But someone was watching. His wife Michal. And it says that when she saw David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart. (2 Samuel 6:16).
When David came back, she 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. (2 Samuel 6:20)
As I read this, I wonder if this was simply disapproval of David’s actions or if it was the result of something deeper.
Consider for a moment. She had recently lost her father and her brothers in battle. She was taken from a man that she very likely loved (2 Samuel 3:13-16).
And now she was forced to share her husband with six other women. She had every reason to be bitter, and I do believe it was out of this bitterness that these words came.
I’m not letting David off the hook for his actions. He was clearly in disobedience to God for taking as many wives as he did (Deuteronomy 17:17), no matter what the culture at the time considered acceptable.
And as I’ve mentioned before, it seems to me he should have at least asked Michal whether she wanted to come back to him or not. As it was, it seems she had no choice in the matter.
But Michal let her bitterness consume her, and it turned a difficult situation for her into a miserable one.
It’s a bit difficult to exactly interpret verse 23 where it says she had no children until the day of her death.
Whether it means God closed her womb, or David avoided her, or she avoided David after this event, is not clear. What is clear is that by letting her bitterness consume her, she had a miserable life thereafter.
What about you? Is there any bitter root in your heart? You might feel you have a right to your bitterness. And you may.
But the question is not whether you have a right to your bitterness, but whether you want that bitterness to destroy you.
Because if you let your bitterness consume you, little by little, you’ll find all the joy in your life start to disappear.
All of us go through difficult times. All of us have reasons to become bitter. We can’t always control our circumstances. What we can control is our response to them.
Will we become bitter? Or will we give our heartache and hurt to God and let him heal us.
I’m not saying that God will take away our problems. What I am saying is that he can help you find joy and peace in the midst of your hardships. And you’ll find a life worth living.
What will you choose?
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 