Elijah and King Ahab

We start our month with the “oral prophets” by looking at one of the most interesting confrontation between good and evil – Prophet Elijah versus King Ahab.  It is an interesting study in contrast and I believe you can think of many lessons as you read thru today’s passage (by the way, the printed schedule has some wrong passages… the one here is correct… sorry!)

Bible Passage:  1 Kings 17:1; 18:1-19, 41-46; 21:17-24

Interesting wasn’t it?

As I was reading it, these words of King Ahab came to mind…

“Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”   ~ 1 Kings 17:17

“Have you found me, O my enemy?” ~ 1 Kings 21:20

It was quite funny because each time Ahab saw Elijah… he knew that trouble was afoot.  And everything that was going wrong.. he blamed it on Elijah!

Now, how we normally view events or ideas will usually determine how we would respond to it.

When Elijah first appeared before Ahab, he prophesied that there will be no dew nor rain for some years.  Not exactly pleasent words to hear… but Elijah was simply proclaiming God’s judgement on the people and Ahab.  Ahab had led Israel to reject God and His message and ignored them totally as they went about their lives as usual.  They did not believe that what Elijah said was as bad as it could be… in fact… they thought Elijah an alarmist.

And now when God fulfilled His judgement, it was quite funny to see how Ahab reacted when he next saw Elijah.

“Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

Ahab could not see that it was he and the people who were the ones who actually troubled Israel!  They could not see that it was because of them that there had been no rain for the last few years!

Elijah simply called Israel to turn back from their sin and back to God’s Word again.

He did not cause any trouble – but simply pointed out that Ahab was the trouble maker.  And Ahab, like others before him, had led Israel away from God.

But Ahab saw things differently.  All things were going well until this… this… this troubler of Israel turned up!

Now the question for me today is this….

“Who are the true trouble makers?”

Sometimes there are people in church whom we always choose to refuse to listen to… because we do not like the message they speak.  We consider them trouble makers… we think of them as causing problems in church.

Let’s consider for a moment….

Are the trouble makers those who point out a departure from the Word of God and try to affect a return to the truth?

Or are the trouble makers those who turn from the Biblical standard and truth that has been the foundation of the Church?

How we answer this question will reveal our heart and what we truly believe.

For Ahab,it was more important for him to have a kingdom without troubles as compared to living in righteousnes and holiness.

But Elijah was the other way… he was not prepared to sacrifice the standard and Word of God for peaceful, harmonious life.

The truth was this… it was Ahab and his evil predecesors who had robbed Israel of her peace and harmony.  They led the people away from God.  And now… the prophet of God had the sad responsibility to call them back to the Lord… away from their false sense of security and peace.

Who is the true “troubler of Israel?”

It is a matter of perspective.

A christian who loves the Lord and and His Word cannot remain silent when there is a departure from truth. When he sounds the alarm, those who love the status quo, or those who do not like to listen to call for truth beyond creative words, will consider the believer to be a rabble rouser and trouble maker.

The truth is, the trouble maker is the one who forsakes the biblical truth for something counterfeit.

May God give us the courage like Elijah so that when we stand up for the truth, even though we are accused of being a trouble maker or enemy, we will perserve and keep the faith!