Who Is the Troublemaker?

1 Kings 18:1-19

Who’s The Troublemaker?

1 Kings 18:1-19

READ 18:1-19.

If you’ve ever been on a sports team and the losses start piling up, one of the first things that seems to inevitably happen in the dressing room – is that the fingers come out and start pointing. Somebody isn’t pulling their weight. Someone’s to blame.

If you’ve done a group project at school – and the grade isn’t what you wanted, one of the first things that you tend to do – is pull out the finger and search for the cause of the poor mark. Who’s fault is it?

And when it comes to suffering in general – when the pain of life in this world hits - one of our first instincts is to look for someone to blame. “I’m in pain here – and somebody is responsible. Who is at fault for my suffering?!”

Our text this morning begins with God’s people in suffering.

1 THE LORD SENDS HIS SERVANT TO ANNOUNCE RAIN, vv. 1-2

Our story begins in barrenness. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen God move in mighty ways - feeds His prophet in the wilderness, feeds a starving, nameless foreign widow and her son - along with the prophet Elijah, through a never-ending supply of flour in the jar and oil in the jug. We’ve seen God act in the mightiest of ways, when the widow’s son dies. All seems lost. Hope is gone. Oh, but it’s not. Elijah prays and God breathes new life into a dead corpse. It’s the first time in history, when someone dead is raised back to life.

Next week (spoiler alert) we are going to see God act in a mighty way when He sends fire and rain from heaven. But here, the beginning of chapter 18 slows the action down and reminds us again, of the context where this action is all taking place. This is drought. This is barrenness. And it is devastating for Israel.

Verse 1, “After many days, the word of the LORD came to Elijah, IN THE THIRD YEAR ...”

So, we are in the third year of the heavens locked up tight .... not a drop of rain from the sky in an area of the world that tends to be dry at the best of times. This is devastating.

A few of you grew up in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Others have heard the stories from mom or dad, grandma or grandpa - you’ve heard how serious the lack of rain can be.

John Steinbeck gave a glimpse into what things were like during those days. His novel, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is set in the heart of the Depression:

“The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country. In the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. Gophers and ant lions started small avalanches. And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward. Then it was June, and the sun shone more fiercely. The brown lines on the corn leaves widened and moved in on the central ribs. The weeds frayed and edged back toward their roots. The air was thin and the sky more pale; and every day the earth paled.”

One survivor described the dust storms of those days:

We could see it coming in my part of western Iowa. At first there was a yellow haze across the horizon, and then as the dust climbed in the hot sky, it became orange and finally brown, and the sun was dimmed. In the first minutes we stood in mute groups just watching, and then windows were slammed shut despite the 100° heat, and the women pushed strips of rags around frames and sills in a pathetic effort to keep the monster at bay. It never worked. The dust found the crevices and loose joints and piled up in the corners and drifted through the air. Sometimes you could hear it on the roof.

You have experienced ‘drought’ in your life. In some way or another - there have been days, months, years even - of barrenness - when there was no water anywhere to be seen … and you were ‘wilting’. Maybe that time is now. And your temptation right now, is to look for somebody to blame.

This is that time in Israel. Look at the end of v. 2, “Now the famine was severe in Samaria.”Well, I guess so. Three years drought in this part of the world? It was a couple of years ago, when things were already so bad that the widow and her son in Zerephath were about to die. All this time after that - there must be many in the region facing starvation. This is a major disaster.

Oh, but God is never NOT in control. It is at this VERY time, when God looks at His watch, as it were, and says, “Okay, we are right on schedule … now is the time.” Verse 1, “The word of the LORD came to Elijah in the 3rd year, saying, ‘Go show yourself to Ahab … (WHY?!) … and I WILL SEND RAIN UPON THE EARTH.”

And just as Elijah has done, every single time the LORD has spoken to him so far in his life … there’s not a word of objection, not a question … just quiet obedience. Verse 2, “So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.”

The LORD gives and the LORD takes away … and sometimes, the LORD gives AGAIN! We are being reminded here that God hasn’t forgotten His people - He has been in control this whole time. And He’s about to give the gift of rain.

2 THE POWERLESSNESS OF THE KING, vv. 3-14

In verses 3-14, we’re going to see how much power the human king, Ahab, has. Not much at all, as it turns out.

We actually haven’t heard anything about Ahab since Elijah announced the drought to him in chapter 17. But now the scene changes from a focus on Elijah in the wilderness, to Ahab in his royal palace. This is the person with the power over life and death in Israel, the power to set policy – and the one with the authority to decide the direction of the entire nation. He has ‘turfed’ Israel’s God, brought in Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility in His place - and this new, trendy, cosmopolitan god with an international flavour - has done absolutely NOTHING to help the water supply in Israel. So, Ahab seems to be showing a lack of power on the weather-controlling front.

But at a smaller level, on the home front - Ahab doesn’t seem to be fully in control of his own palace, even. Verse 3 introduces us to a man named Obadiah (not the prophet who wrote the book in the Bible). This Obadiah is the chief of staff in the palace. And no matter what the official religious policy of the king is … Obadiah still worships the LORD.

He proves his worship is sincere when Queen Jezebel goes on a violent rampage. You see, when Jezebel from Sidon marries king Ahab of Israel - she brings her own foreign gods with her. That’s bad enough. This is the holy people of the God of Abraham, Moses, the Exodus, the Wilderness , Joshua, Samuel and David. She’s corrupting this people by bringing Baal into this land. But she doesn’t even stop there.

Jezebel decides that it’s not enough for her to bring a foreign god into Israel and to lead the people to join in her Baal religion - no, she wants NO reminder of Israel’s God anywhere In Israel. Verse 4 tells us that she begins to round up God’s prophets .... and slaughter them. She will never have to hear anyone speak the name of the LORD again!

Or so she thinks.

It’s a reminder of the ‘TOLERANCE’ of our day. The idea that says, ‘You need to be open to every new idea that flows down the media ‘stream’. Accept them, welcome them – or you are intolerant. Oh, and by the way, we don’t want to hear a word about the convictions you have held deeply in through your lifetime and have inherited from generations past.” That’s no tolerance friend.

Obadiah hears Jezebel’s agenda and will not stand idly by. So, as v. 4 tells us - he gathers 100 of God’s prophets, manages to sneak them out of town, out into the wilderness, near Mount Carmel, where there are hundreds of caverns to this very day. There, in one of the caves, Obadiah sets them up in a safe-house: 50 in one part of the cave, 50 in another. Then Obadiah keeps them alive, by arranging for the delivery of bread and water.

Isn’t that interesting? Remember when Elijah first delivered his message to Ahab - he escapes to the wilderness by the brook Cherith - and God miraculously protects and preserves him with food, specially delivered by ravens? Here there’s no miracle, just the planning and organizing of a government bureaucrat. But God is still protecting these 100 prophets every bit as much as he did Elijah. That’s important to not miss. Sometimes you’re desperate for God to act in our trial: “God would you give me a miracle?!” And you don’t see anything supernatural happening … But God is at work, every bit as much … choosing to rescue you through ordinary means.

See how Ahab doesn’t even have full control over his own household? His chief of staff is successfully hiding and caring for the prophets of God that his wife is trying to slaughter. Well, if he can’t even control what goes on in his palace - Ahab isn’t going to have much success in getting rain for his people.

The king’s state gets even more pathetic when we read on - in v. 5, Ahab calls Obadiah in for a strategy session. Things are beyond desperate. READ vv. 5-6.

Off the 2 split, in search of some remote stream with enough water to nourish some field of grass. Don’t miss the king’s concern here: Obadiah has been working to save the lives of PEOPLE, as the queen is at work, killing the prophets … and notice Ahab’s concern – it’s food for the ANIMALS. Well, things aren’t very promising, since the secret brook Cherith had dried up from beside Elijah - over 2 years ago.

See the pathetic, loveless king (“Oh, people starving?! Really?! I’m actually just worried about the horses”) .... see him wandering off, from his palace, to the desolate sun-scorched wilderness, like a scavenger, hunting for water to save his animals. Ahab goes in one direction, Obadiah goes in another.

The camera stays with the servant, NOT the king - and, in v. 7, Obadiah stumbles across none other than Elijah, himself. READ vv. 7-8

“Is that really you, Elijah?!”

There’s no time for small talk: “Yes, it’s me .... now, go tell your lord Elijah’s here.”

Well, Ahab may be powerless in almost every other way, but there is ONE power that he does seem to still have - and that’s the power to strike fear into the heart of his chief of staff.

Obadiah responds: “REALLY?! Do you hate me that much that you want to send me to the king and my certain death?!”

“Why so afraid?”, you may wonder. Obadiah explains in vv. 10-11

READ vv. 10-11.

“You are the most wanted man in the entire country. In fact, the king has been on an international man-hunt for you. There is no nation - no kingdom, no stone that has been left un-turned - anywhere. And, obviously, the other world rulers are afraid of Ahab, because when they tell him, one by one, ‘There’s no Elijah here ...’ - he made them place a hand on the Bible, cross their heart and hope to die and stick a needle in their eye’ and SWEAR that they are telling the truth about Elijah. And every one of the leaders of the nations has done just that.”

See again the powerlessness of this human king. He’s got the FBI, the CIA and Interpol all hunting far and wide for this one man. Elijah has been living just 8 miles from Jezebel’s hometown for a couple of years - and he can’t find him anywhere! Why, he can barely keep his animals alive.

But Obadiah isn’t happy with this new mission to Ahab. He says, “So now you’re telling me that I should to THAT king and say … ‘Umm - no water to be found, but - by the way - I did happen to run into *COUGH* Elijah while I was out … Do you remember him?”

The first thing Ahab is going to do is ask why you’re not there with me - dead or alive. Then he’s going to make me bring him out here with his Seal Team 6, to catch you ....but I know how this works - the Holy Spirit is going to protect you. He always does. I’m going to come back here with the king - you’re going to be TRANSMITTED to some far-off safe space, leaving me here looking like a fool. And then I’m going to be the target. The king’s going to kill me for sure. I really don’t want to do this.”

Obadiah’s afraid. And there are some commentators and preachers who read this section and say, “AHA! Worldly Christian! This Obadiah is a chicken - driven by the fear of man … cowering before a human king, rather than concerned to stand up for God and be counted.”

What do you think?

I’d suggest that’s pretty harsh judgment. Harsh and not fair. Obadiah’s name means ‘servant of the LORD’. He’s shown himself to be just that, when it counts. I mean, the guy has risked his life hiding God’s prophets. Nobody needed to tell Obadiah what would happen to him if Ahab or Jezebel ever found out about his ‘hide-a-prophet’ program. It would have meant certain death.

In fact, the end of verse 3 tells us, explicitly that this man didn’t just go to church on Sunday to worship God out of habit or empty tradition: “Obadiah feared the LORD greatly”.

So is Obadiah as brave as Elijah? No. Is he a little afraid for his life? Sure. So does that mean he’s playing for the applause of people? If that’s what you think - then I think you’re a pretty tough critic and I’m sure thankful that you aren’t going to be judging MY life when it matters. Elijah doesn’t get mad at him. He makes a promise.

READ v. 15, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” And in v. 16, off goes Obadiah on his new mission - to do exactly what God’s prophet told him.

3 THE REAL TROUBLEMAKER, vv. 15-19

In verse 16, Obadiah takes his life in his hands, as he goes to meet Ahab. I love the way verse 16describes the scene: “So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.”

Doesn’t that strike you with the reality of where the power lies in this scene? We’ve been looking at Elijah’s life for a few weeks now. And we’ve seen that every time the Word of the LORD comes to him - Elijah gets up and Elijah obeys. But he’s God’s servant - he’s chosen to follow, so of course he obeys.

Now – over to Ahab … here’s the earthly king, who has rejected God and chosen another deity. He’s hunting all over the world for this one man, with all of the resources and might of a nation behind him - but he can’t find him anywhere.

Ahab can’t find Elijah until God decides it’s time for Elijah to show himself. And when he does - he sends word to the king, “Come”. And here’s the king, who refuses to worship God … see him coming on command, without a word - every bit as obedient, every bit as much under God’s mighty hand of control as Elijah is.

Oh Christian, what power are you afraid of? World governments? Corruption in high places? The people in your life that seem to have power over your destiny? Look at Ahab … the mighty king .... led around on a leash by the God of heaven!

This is the God in heaven today. So, if you belong to Him … why fear?!

Well, as you can imagine - Ahab may have come out to see Elijah, but he’s none too happy to greet him. Verse 17, “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘IS it you, TROUBLER of Israel?”

“Troubler of Israel” - that’s a harsh accusation.

That word, ‘Troubler’ in the original Hebrew, points to someone who makes a trouble that causes hardship and pain for others - it brings social chaos.

It’s that kid in class who won’t stop getting classmates riled up and rambunctious, shooting spitballs, pulling girls hair – throwing paper airplanes – until the class gets wild and teacher finally says, ‘ENOUGH! The whole class is staying after school for detention … for a whole week.” That’s a ‘troubler’ of the class.

It’s the word used to describe Achan, back in the book of Joshua. Israel is perched on the outskirts of the fortress city of Jericho - the first city they face after entering the Promised Land. Joshua tells the people: “God is going to literally give the city into your hands. Just follow Him. And whatever you do - do NOT take any of the loot in the city for yourself. God has devoted it to destruction. IF you do … you’ll bring TROUBLE into Israel. Joshua uses the very same word as Ahab does to Elijah.

The battle against Jericho goes exactly according to plan. A man named Achan disobeys, takes some of the bounty and stashes it in a hiding place under his tent. Nobody knows until the next battle. After the success at Jericho, the tiny town of Ai looks to be a cake-walk. But it’s not. Israel gets routed.

It turns out - according to Joshua 7:25, Achan’s sin had brought TROUBLE into the camp. The same word again.

Ahab is saying here - “This drought - the parched land, the suffering of the people - the pain that this nation is enduring right now … this is all YOUR fault, Elijah. The pain of suffering people - it’s all on your hands.” And what the king is ultimately saying is that the drought devastating the land of Israel is the fault of Elijah’s God. Somehow He must have made Baal mad - and now there’s no rain.

God’s servant is a TROUBLEMAKER. Does that sound familiar to you? When there is suffering in a nation where God’s people have a significant presence - inevitably … the finger of accusation seems to turn to Christians and their God. It’s been that way from the very beginning of the Christian Church:

It happened to the apostle Paul. The religious leaders of Israel dragged him before the governor Felix and charged him with being a troublemaker:

“For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world” (Acts 24:5; cf. Acts 16:20–17:6). The only thing Paul was guilty of was peacefully preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promises. Oh, but that’s always a threat to the fortresses of evil.

The same thing happened in the early church. In his Life of Claudius, Suetonius speaks of “disturbances” breaking out in Rome at the instigation of one “Chrestus,” which indicates that trouble was being caused in the name of Christ.

In the time of Tacitus, christians were wrongfully charged with practicing incest as part of public worship because they would talk about their love for “brothers and sisters” in Christ. They were accused of ‘Cannibalism’ because they would celebrate communion, where they would ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ “the body and blood of Christ.” Under Nero, the Christians were blamed for the burning of Rome and executed simply because they belonged to Jesus.

The same thing happened during the Protestant Reformation in Europe. When Martin Luther started preaching justification by grace alone through faith alone, the pope called him a “pestiferous virus.” In fact, John Calvin wrote his Institutes to defend the Reformation against those who said that Protestant Christians were lawless troublemakers.

The world thought that Jesus was a troublemaker, too. No one had ever caused more trouble than Jesus! When he was brought to trial before Pilate, his accusers said, “We found this man misleading our nation.… He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place” (Luke 3:2, 5). The preaching of the gospel is a great divider. It draws some people to God in faith and repentance, but at the same time it makes other people hostile to God and his messengers.

I was on Facebook, the other day - and I saw a post by someone from way back in my past, at the church I grew up in. When I was a boy, we had a church-based, Christian equivalent of Scouts. It was called ‘Boys Brigade’. Boys Brigade was a weekly meeting where a bunch of us orangutan boys would converge on the church and a few leaders would try to control the mob and get us playing some games .... and get us working on projects and having a devotional from God’s Word and every once in awhile - going on a camping trip.

Of course, when the games got going, the boys could get rough - somebody would inevitably get a bump or a bruise. In fact, as a sign of how chaotic things could get. One night we were playing a game, where some of us had to wait outside the big room, with the door closed, while the leaders set something up on the other side of the door. As they were closing the door for the setup time, a couple of my fingers got caught on the hinge-side of the door, just as it was closing.

I was shouting that my fingers were caught, and banging the door to let one of the leaders on the other side know - but the other kids were shouting and banging the door too - so nobody could hear … nobody noticed - until the door opened again and the ends of two fingers were literally hanging by a thread. Fortunately, the emergency doctor at the hospital was able to save the fingers. Unfortunately - that meant I couldn’t get out of piano lessons forever.

That wasn’t one of the pleasant experiences of Boys’ Brigade - but that group and the leaders who were so committed to us - they greatly shaped my life.

I’m friends, on social media with one of those leaders. Whenever I see him post something – I read it. But the other day, when I read a new post he had made – I saw a response from the other main leader of the group. My face lit up - I haven’t heard anything from him for over 40 years. So I eagerly read his comment … I read it and my heart sank.

'The greatest evil is by those who are so certain that their belief is correct that they will do anything for that belief' ... applies especially to born again Christians. After a lifetime of education and experience modified by evidence, I have come to realize that religion and philosophy is MADE UP by us humans.

Clearly he no longer believes the very things he taught us back when we were kids. When his co-leader, reminded him of the camaraderie in ministry, his response was, “Yes ... memories of some silliness, since our whole circle believed similar things.”

I read this and was feeling heartsick. I wanted to express my appreciation for the things of the Lord that I received at their hands, so I felt compelled to jump into the discussion - to let these leaders know that what they did mattered:

“As one of the goofy young kids who made up Boys’ Brigade at RBC (and who must have made you wonder at times whether you were doing much more than trying to manage ‘chaos’) - let me express my appreciation.

You both made a massive formative impact on my life (and I’m sure the life of a number of others). Decades later, I still have many fond, vivid memories of those days and will be eternally grateful for the investment you made on me.”

The ‘de-converted’ leader responded: Keith, one remembers the tough stuff ... I can still see your crushed finger that got caught in the door. These small things honestly tell me that god does nothing ... nothing about the Holocaust, or the squirrel I just saw get its hind legs clipped by the car in front of me ... dragging its poor state across the road to a certain meal for some predator. We live in a fairy land of dishonesty ... I prefer the honesty and tragedy or reality.

It hurt to read those words – how could he have fallen so far from what he once believed? How can he be so hopeless?

You will face a discussion something like this - at some point in your life. Someone who once claimed to believe in God – but has pushed Him aside and accuses God and His Church for being responsible for the world’s Suffering.

What will you say?

I RESPONDED: “You have a tremendous memory to still recall the injury to my finger, after all of these years! That was quite an experience indeed and I bear the constant reminder of that incident to this very day. It certainly was a ‘tough time’. Yet, there is more than one way to look at a singular incident. It was painful and traumatic, but it was also a time when I experienced the intense compassion and care of others, as I otherwise wouldn’t.

And, looking back at it now (without going into specifics), that injury, like so many of life's hard times, helped to deepen my character. I believe I am much better because of that trial.

I am not so Pollyannaish as to imply that there is no real suffering in this world. Not at all. It seems pretty evident that this world is not the way it should be. It’s a broken world. In fact, that very brokenness is what has led me into Christian ministry. I share your concern to not live by fairy tales - the need for truth as the foundation for life. The evidence has led me to believe that the Christian message best explains the world ‘as it is’ and offers the solution to the problem.

Throwing God out of the equation may remove a perceived frustration, but it does nothing to explain the world as it is. Take God away and we still have the suffering. In fact, on what basis and by which criteria do we define ‘tragedy’ and mourn ‘evils’ like the Holocaust ? How do we explain the instinctive sadness felt, even at seeing a small animal harmed in an accident? In the absence of an overarching narrative, is there anything more than simply nature doing what nature does? Are we left with a world that Hobbes described, where life is simply ‘nasty, brutish and short?’ I don’t know how one can live, consistently, in such a world. I couldn’t. And again, I am thankful beyond words for the way God used you and Terry in my life – in some of the most formative years. I wish for you joy.

So, you can accuse God of being the great Troublemaker of the world, or of your life – and you can throw Him overboard. But then what? Does it remove one wave of suffering in the storm? Of course not. So now how do you explain suffering? Where do you go for a solution? In fact, if there is no God – what reason do you have for thinking this world is ‘broken’ in the first place? Isn’t it all just nature ‘doing what nature does?’

ELIJAH WILL NOT ACCEPT AHAB’S ACCUSATION. Verse 18, “And he answered, “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.”

“Don’t blame me or my LORD”, Elijah says. “The trail of trouble can be traced back to you and your disobedience.” God told you how to live for maximum joy - and you’ve thrown away His word - and chosen to follow another God.

In fact this drought should have been no surprise to Ahab or Israel. Solomon pointed to this very thing happening, when he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 8:35-36 – “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, (36) then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.”

That is the source of your pain. When you abandon the Source of Life and then blame Him for leaving you alone … you are not living rationally.

This IS a broken world - every bit as much today as it was on the parched, arid earth of Elijah’s day. And you can blame God all you want … the question I would ask you if you do blame Him is –

“Is it His fault that I live in a world filled with people who reject His Word, who run from His authority. Who say, “I know better where joy is to be found … and they end up in hopelessness when their sham security gives out on them?”

Is it God’s fault that through this whole drought – Ahab doesn’t raise a single prayer? There’s not a single mention of God’s name on his lips?

I so often do what I know I ought not to do and so often know the things I should do … but instead turn away?

Suffering is not God’s fault. This broken world is because of the free choices of humans. That’s why we suffer. So where can hope be found?

Here is the glory of the Christian message! There is a solution and God provided it, Himself.

When Jesus took our sins on his shoulders on the cross. “Let your hand be against me,” he said to his Father. Jesus was no troublemaker, he invited trouble upon himself in order to save his people. While we reflexively tend to look for someone else to blame for our troubles - Jesus did exactly the opposite.

“God made him who knew no sin to BE sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. And there, my friend – is hope.