David's idol

1 Samuel 19:1-18

I like Michal's devotion to her husband, rather than to her father but of all the times that I have read this story this is the first time that I have noticed the fact that David, that man devoted to God had idols in his house. I think previously I have always that that there were there because of Michal's dubious upbringing. But I think if David had not wanted them in his house he would have made that obvious. This set me wondering more about the nature of the idol.
The Hebrew word for the idol is "teraphim". The The Jewish Encyclopedia tells us that household idols were often in the shape of a human head, sometimes even a mummified head so it was an obvious choice to represent a sick David's head. My own spin on the article is that maybe the teraphim was a reminder of God's presence, you could chat to the head on the wall, ask his advice, just as we do with the invisible presence when we pray.
We have visible reminders of Christ's love for us. I saw a palm leaf cross in a friend's car. We have quite a few in our house too, I sometimes use one as a bookmark. I wear a gold cross. We have a cross at the front of our church. I like having reminders of God's presence, sometimes they jolt me into prayer.