1 Kings 18:17-18 - Devotional Thoughts

"When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 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." 1 Kings 18:17-18

1. God's messengers - sent to proclaim repentence, redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, and justice - are often accused of being divisive, of stirring up trouble. So long as these messengers are faithful to God's word, follow God's will, and fulfil God's work, their accusers might as well accuse God himself of being divisive and stirring up trouble, for these are but his servants, his instruments.

2. The irony of course is that the actual "troublers" tend to be those who call God's messengers "troublers". From positions of power and perspectives of privilege they busy themselves with deflective, self-righteous, "I'm the real victim here", slanderous false narratives of God's messengers who cry against and point away from the real troublers to the real Healer. They are deflective, because they point away from their own very real and apparent problems, to someone else who they claim is causing problems - "Is it you...?". They are self-righteous, because they take the holier-than-thou accusatory high ground and presume to preach to the preacher as though more authoritative, more knowledgeable, and more righteous - Ahab said to him "Is it you, you troubler...?" An "I'm the victim here" slanderous false narrative, because it takes the classic abuser role of victim (a man or a woman who has abused someone will often cover their tracks by acting like they are the real victim of injustice and may even actively and vindictively pursue such charges till found out) and builds a false picture of the one they accuse backed up with out of context and misleading evidence: in Ahab's case, a severe famine announced by Elijah  - "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?"

3. God's messengers (those falsely called "troublers") must continue despite opposition and apathy to probingly and painfully call the real troublers of God's people to deep, radical repentence for multigenerational rebellion against God's commands and rejection of God himself. “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."