Monday, December
18, 2017
Later on, in the
third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present
yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I
will soon send rain!” So Elijah went to
appear before Ahab. Meanwhile, the
famine had become very severe in Samaria.
So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all
the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves. He put fifty prophets in each cave and
supplied them with food and water.) Ahab
said to Obadiah, “We must check every spring and valley in the land to see if
we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules.” So they divided the land between them. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah
went another way by himself. As Obadiah
was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him. Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low
to the ground before him. “Is it really
you, my lord Elijah?” he asked. “Yes, it
is,” Elijah replied. “Now go and tell
your master, ‘Elijah is here.’” “Oh,
sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me
to my death at the hands of Ahab? For I
swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation
and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time he was told, ‘Elijah isn’t
here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his
claim. And now you say, ‘Go and tell
your master, “Elijah is here.”’ But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of
the Lord will carry you away to who knows where. When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will
kill me. Yet I have been a true servant
of the Lord all my life. Has
no one told you, my lord, about the time when Jezebel was trying to kill
the Lord’s prophets? I hid 100 of
them in two caves and supplied them with food and water. And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master,
“Elijah is here.”’ Sir, if I do that,
Ahab will certainly kill me.” But Elijah
said, “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that
I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”
So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to
meet Elijah. When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you
troublemaker of Israel?” “I have made no
trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You
and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the
commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 1 Kings 18:1-18(NLT)
Scripture’s account of the confrontation between Ahab and Elijah is more
than a skirmish between a king and a prophet; this is a clash between the
living God and a man’s ego. If you’ve
never read the account of how it all turned out, suffice to say it does not
turn out pretty for Ahab; it never does when you dig your heels in against God!
There are only two possible outcomes when humans go to war against the
Lord:
1.
The human
recognizes foolishness and repents, surrendering
2.
The
human recognizes foolishness and presses on in pride…and gets toasted!
The conclusion is always: fighting God is a fool’s errand.
For You
Today
Whether
called by the title of King, Sultan, Mullah, Sheik, Sha, Raja or President, it
usually means there is more than enough pomp and circumstance to inflate a
ruler’s ego. And any ruler would do well
to remember that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that
Jesus is Lord.
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