Preached February 13, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church

Introduction

The manager of a minor league baseball team who was so disgusted with his center fielder’s performance that he ordered him to the dugout and assumed the position himself. The first ball that came into center field took a bad hop and hit the manager in the mouth. The next one was a high fly ball, which he lost in the glare of the sun—until it bounced off his forehead.

The third was a hard line drive that he charged with outstretched arms; unfortunately, it flew between his hands and smacked his eye. Furious, he ran back to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the uniform, and shouted. ‘You idiot! You’ve got center field so messed up that even I can’t do a thing with it!’

Blame is a fun game to play isn’t it?  It is much easier to point fingers at others than to take responsibility for our own actions and choices.

A man angrily jumped out of his car after a collision with another car. “Why don’t you people watch where you’re driving?” he shouted wildly. “You’re the fourth car I’ve hit today!”

Our spiritual lives seem like that sometimes.  When heaven seems closed and God seems silent and distant and our souls are parched, we blame the preacher for not “feeding the flock.”  Or the music ministry because the music isn’t worshipful enough.  Or the Sunday School teacher or class.  Sometimes we even blame God. When we drift far from God and everything is dry and barren, we point to everyone and everything else, except ourselves.

There are two reasons for spiritual dryness:

1)    God is allowing us to experience a difficult season in our lives to cultivate our character.  In this case, it only seems that God is absent and distant.  He is strengthening our patience and endurance and after a season, we can look back and see how he has worked in our lives.

2)    Another reason is that we have drifted away from God and he is allowing us to experience the consequences of our actions.  While God may let us drift for a while, eventually God comes knocking down the door.

Israel has been experiencing drought– physical and spiritual– for three years.  Elijah showed up and announced to Ahab that it would not rain.  And then Elijah disappeared off the radar screen.  People were looking for him, but he was not to be found.  God’s prophets are in hiding and no one is proclaiming the word of God openly to the people.  It is a dry time.  No rain water and no living water coming down.

But now, Elijah has resurfaced.  God has brought him out of his exile and is now bringing him to confront Ahab.  Meeting Obadiah, Elijah orders him to tell Ahab he is back.  Ahab gets word and comes after Elijah.

1 Kings 18:16-20 (ESV) 
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
[17] When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”  [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.  [19] Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
[20] So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 

Ahab’s first word to Elijah is one of contempt and animosity.  He calls him a TROUBLER OF ISRAEL.  The word troubler means to disturb or stir up.

It is used in the book of Joshua in a very famous passage.  Perhaps Ahab had this episode in mind when he called Elijah a troubler.

God delivered Jericho into the hands of Joshua and the Israelites.  But he gave them a stern warning.

    Joshua 6:18 (ESV)  But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 

In other words, it is going to be bad news if the Israelites do not obey God and instead keep things that should have been destroyed.

Joshua 7:1 (ESV)  But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

This is bad news for Israel.  They go into battle against Ai, and they lose.  They lose badly.  Joshua, frightened and confused, cries out to God.  God answers him and tells him that there is sin in the camp.  They search and discover Achan’s sin.  Joshua confronts Achan.

Joshua 7:25 (ESV)   And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

So Ahab sees Elijah, and he calls him a “trouble-maker.”  Elijah is blamed for no rain.  He is accused of bringing harm on the people.  It is insinuated that Elijah is not a patriot, is not a supporter of the crown, is not a friend to the people.

Ahab is doing something that is common among many people.  When God begins to rebuke or judge people because of idolatrous and wicked choices, people get angry and start pointing to others.  We blame others for our sins.  We get angry at God when he righteously judges.

But Elijah turns it around immediately.  “I have not troubled Israel– you have!  This is your fault.”  Drought was upon the people because of their sin.  Spiritual drought as a form of judgment comes upon us when we:

1.    Abandon the Word of God. 

Neglecting the Word of God will dry our souls.  We wither and begin to dry when we are not nourished when God speaks into our souls through his word.

    2.    Abandon the Worship of God. 

When we turn from the Word of God, we will start being infused with another message.  We start looking for spiritual nourishment from other places.  In Ahab’s case, it was from Baal.  He abandoned the worship of God to worship Baal.

    3.    Abandon our Witness for God.

Instead of leading Israel to God and setting the pace for worship, Ahab became an evangelist for Baal.

This is why trouble came.   Ahab and Israel were suffering because they forgot the Second commandment.

Exodus 20:4-6 (ESV)  You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  [5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,  [6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

God will suffer no rivals.  If we follow in Ahab’s footsteps and Abandon the Word of God, Worship of God, and our witness for God, we will soon experience chastisement.  And if we do, there is no one to blame but ourselves.  When people come and complain to me that God seems far away and they don’t seem to get much out of church, I want to check these three areas of their lives.  You see, when we are in the Word, when we Worship, and when we Witness, there is no deadness.  There is life and vitality.