When David danced
wildly before the Lord as the Ark was being brought into Jerusalem, he offended
his wife Michal. In hindsight, most of
us would look upon Michal as petty and childish but she had plenty of baggage she
carried with her that may have inflamed her sensitivities. Her husband used her to make his escape from
her father. David greedily married
numerous other women rather than holding fast to his loyalty to Michal. When Michal was forced by her father to
remarry, she built a new life with her husband but had it ripped from her when
David demanded her back into his harem as his condition for peacefully
accepting command of the united nation of Israel. All of David's faults aside, he was doing as
the Lord directed when he took up his place at the front of the procession and
held nothing back in his celebration of the Lord's presence. The backlash of his obedience hit is wife
Michal squarely in the face. Abraham as
he marched up Mt. Moriah to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, had to stifle
his own emotions but more importantly, let his wife suffer violently the horror
of the projected outcome. Paul never
forced his young friend Silas to accompany him on the missionary journey but he
did not shield him either from the brutal treatment he suffered as a
result. Our children may face terrible
difficulties and our friends might suffer greatly when we do as the Lord tells
us but we must not shy away from our obedience to the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew Peter would suffer for following
Him to the end but Jesus did not apologize to Peter for it nor did He waver in
the call to follow. The cross is not
heavy just for us but for all those who walk with us as we heft it upon our
shoulders and they heave their own crosses upon theirs. If we are to be crucified with Christ, why
would we try to prevent others from dying themselves? Do we not want them also to have Jesus as
Lord? Are we more merciful than God
Himself who lets others suffer alongside us as we take up our cross daily? If God calls us, we must go regardless of the
effect it has on others. Jesus went to
Calvary knowing full well the anguish it would bring His own mother but He did
so because the Father beckoned Him onward.
If we are to follow in His steps, we cannot hesitate at the point at
which we bring crises and trials upon others.
They are in God's hands just as solidly as we are and to not go would be
to demand the Lord drop us and them too.
A large number of people followed him, including
women who mourned and wailed for him. Luke 23:27-28 NIV
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