Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends on this Friday,
They say ‘good news travels fast’. The truth is bad news also travels very fast, doesn’t it? Yesterday I left you watching a miracle, a wonderful miracle. Do you remember? The old prophet Elijah prayed over the dead son of the widow of Zarephath and God raised the boy back to life! Now that’s really good news and I wonder how fast and far that good news traveled?
Several months later, Elijah heard some very good news, directly from God! 1 Kings 18:1 tells us “The word of the LORD came to Elijah: ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” So let me ask this question: can news be both good news and bad news at the same time? God had closed up the skies so that for three years there had been neither rain nor dew in Israel because God was disciplining His people and their leaders for decades of their wicked behavior and the harsh reality that they’d turned their backs on God. (1 Kings 17:30-33; 18:1)
After a 3 year drought, a word from God that rain was coming is amazingly GOOD news, would you agree? But the bad news part of this is that Elijah would have to find and face king Ahab who was hunting for Elijah to kill him. You see Ahab refused to see his failed leadership as responsible for this drought, instead he held the prophet Elijah responsible since Elijah had been the one who brought the news of this God sent drought to Ahab.
Have you ever held the messenger responsible for the pain of the message they brought you?
I see no evidence that Elijah argued with God, but rather he immediately set out to find Ahab. Along the way Elijah met a man named Obadiah who was the man in charge of king Ahab’s palace! Perhaps today we’d call him the ‘Chief of Staff’. Amazingly Obadiah was a devout follower of the God of Israel, even though everyday he worked very closely with king Ahab, the most wicked, vile King of Israel up to that time, and his Queen, Jezebel!
Obadiah was on a mission from king Ahab hunting for any available water source and pasture land which had not dried up in the drought. Evidently Obadiah recognized the prophet Elijah when they met and Elijah gave him the good news/bad news: “Go tell your master Elijah is here”. 1 Kings 18:7-15 explains why I call this both good & bad news for Obadiah! Obadiah explained to Elijah that king Ahab had been diligently searching for Elijah and had put out a bounty on Elijah’s head, with no results. Obadiah felt certain that if he was the one to tell Ahab that he’d seen Elijah without bringing Elijah to the King, well, it could be Obadiah’s last day alive.
Then Obadiah gave Elijah some amazing news. Obadiah had actually hidden 100 devout men of God in two caves, 50 in each, and Obadiah was supplying them with food and water everyday, despite the declarations by Ahab and Jezebel that no followers of the God of Israel would be tolerated in Israel while they were King & Queen! I doubt any of us can imagine the tightrope Obadiah was walking each and every day!
Elijah assured Obadiah: “As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.” (1 Kings 18:15) With that confident assurance, Obadiah went to find his King with this good news/bad news, very unsure about how Ahab would respond, perhaps feeling his life was on the line.
The encounter between king Ahab and prophet Elijah that day was legendary! As they approached each other king Ahab bellowed “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (1 Kings 18:16) Now look closely, do you see that very same thing happening in our world as people of God, followers of Jesus, people who respect and honor the Bible as God’s truth are being maligned, slandered and held responsible for many dreadful things in our world today? That’s an important reality of the darkness.
Dark can only be dark and dark hates the light and wants the light extinguished.
Here’s the way the disciple John wrote it as he described our world’s response to Jesus, the ultimate Light of Truth: “This is the verdict: ‘Light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what they have done is done to honor God.” (John 3:19-21)
You’ve noticed I’m sure that bank robbers and gang members and vigilantes and terrorists often wear face masks! We’ve even seen it in the anti-Israel campus riots haven’t we? Masked-up people want to do terrible things but NOT be identified or held accountable for their wickedness and the damage they cause.
Elijah’s response to accusing Ahab is epic: “I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your family have. You have abandoned the LORD commands and have followed the Baals.” In one short statement Elijah set the record straight and Ahab could not deny the truth. Furthermore this was much bigger than a contrast of world view or difference of morality between Elijah & Ahab, this was a national problem, thus Elijah challenged Ahab and Jezebel to a spiritual showdown, inviting them to the top of Mount Carmel: “Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1 Kings 18:18,19) If you had witnessed this brief but energized conversation between Elijah and Ahab, I wonder what you would have concluded, and what would you have told others about this moment?
The next words recorded are historic: “So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him!’ But the people said nothing!” (1 Kings 18:20, 21)
Does this sound familiar? The truth is, this is a daily reality in our world, our cities and perhaps our families. With the constant flood of information, opinion and experiences offered to us we find ourselves drawn in all different directions emotionally, intellectually, morally and spiritually don’t we?
At no time is this more true than an election season when public opinion and the passionate, driving desire to win an election will cause almost all politicians to say and do almost anything to earn voter approval. Name any major issue: Immigration / Inflation / Abortion / Marriage / Gender identity / LGBTQ / owning & carrying guns / government authority / military authority / education content especially at the younger grades / voter eligibility etc. etc.
Just my naming these few issues raises up in our minds images of angry protests and a wide range of information and opinions on these and many more topics shaping society today in almost every nation of the world, am I right? That’s why Elijah’s challenge is so relevant to every person in the world today, as it was to those thousands who had gathered on Mount Carmel that historic day.
So let’s pause right here for today. I have three maybe four simple yet profound questions for us to consider as we close today:
1. As you listen to the various opinions on any topic, how do you come to your conclusion about what your opinion is on that issue?
2. Is there a difference between your opinion and your strongly held position on an issue and if so, what leads you from opinion to strongly held position?
3. When forming your opinion what role does your morality and your spirituality have in developing your opinion especially on these volatile social issues?
4. And finally… what role does the Bible have in your journey to forming your position on any issue?
Now pause and ponder those questions friends, and let’s meet right back here on Mount Carmel tomorrow, for there is going to be a historical showdown you won’t want to miss!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 18:1-21.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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