1 Kings 18:17 – When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”
God had clearly promised that drought would come unless sin came to an end (Deuteronomy 11:16–17). Therefore, none of this should have been a surprise to anyone, including Ahab. He was willfully defying God and ignoring the Word of God.
Elijah once again calls Ahab to reality and repentance boldly saying, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.” (1 Kings 18:18) In Elijah’s example, we learn that God’s people are to be His messengers, not His editors. When God has something to say, especially when it is in the Word of God, we can have fear of man (Proverbs 29:25) instead of fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7), wrongly choosing to remain silent or say something other than what God has said.
At some point, people will ask questions like, “Am I going to Hell if I don’t believe in Jesus Christ?” or “So God thinks I’m a sinner that needs to repent of my sin to be forgiven?” or “So the Bible is right, and I am wrong about my progressive beliefs about gender and sex?” and probably won’t like the answers. With love, we must look them in the eye and say, “yes”. When people and God disagree, the issue is not if we will get in trouble, but who we will get in trouble with. We can either say what God says and get in trouble with the person or say what the person wants to hear and get in trouble with God.
For Elijah, there had to be a tremendous temptation. If he aligned with Ahab, the bounty on his head would be lifted and he would be treated like a king in Israel living in luxury with fame and fortune, but he would have lost God’s anointing and become a false prophet.
This moment was a bit like the day when Jesus and Satan came face-to-face, and Jesus was offered all the pleasures of the world in an instant if He would just bow down the King of Darkness.
The fight would take place on “Mount Carmel”, which the Canaanites believed was a place where their demon gods ruled from in power. Baal was worshipped as the god of crops in a barren land, god of rain during a severe drought, and god of the sun or fire, which would not come down for him, as we will learn in the next scene of this supernatural story.
A soldier will tell you that the toughest fight is battling someone on their home turf, and that is exactly how this spiritual war is going to play out. The fight will be between one of God’s prophets, Elijah, and the 450 demonic prophets of Baal, along with the 400 demonic prophets of Asherah. In a fight, 850 versus one is not good odds, unless God is on your side.
Have you ever had to speak truth in love to a friend or family member about something they believed was right that God opposed (often in matters of sexuality)?
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