READING: 1 Samuel 19-22
I laughed out loud as I read the Scriptures today. The story is tragic, but still funny.
Saul, under the influence of a demonic spirit, wanted David dead. The king’s agents went to capture David on his bed, believing he was sick because that’s what David’s wife had told them. Michal had helped David escape while deceiving the agents—primarily by putting a household idol on the bed in David’s place, putting some goat’s hair on its head, and then covering it in a garment! The details of how she did that are not entirely clear (given that idols were often smaller), but what’s funny to me is the image of this thing lying there on the bed.
What’s tragic is how many people around the world cling to such dead, powerless idols; in fact, one writer has said this about what the agents found there: “the men who entered did not find in the bed one who was about to die; instead, they found one who had never lived.”*
What’s also tragic is how often you and I turn to idols ourselves. That’s not funny.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What idols are there in your life?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, I commit myself to serve You and You alone today.”
MONDAY’S READING: 1 Samuel 23-25
* Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, p. 209). Broadman & Holman Publishers.