Sowing and Reaping

Elijah was not a popular guy after his announcement to King Ahab. He had walked into Ahab’s court and declared, "As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!" (1 Kings 17:1).

Elijah was a wanted man, dead or alive (preferably dead). But then he emerged on the scene, and he and Ahab had their confrontation. When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, "So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?" (1 Kings 18:17).

Interestingly, Ahab called Elijah a troublemaker, which could be better translated "snake in the grass," or "viper." (I don’t know if I would call someone with the ability to call down fire from Heaven a viper.)

But Elijah answered, "I have made no trouble for Israel. . . . 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" (verse 18). In other words, Elijah was saying, "You brought this on yourself, King Ahab, because you turned to false gods."

It’s always amazing to me how people will break God’s commands over and over again, resist His loving warnings, and then blame God when hardship hits, often as a result of their own actions. Why did God let this happen to me? Why did God do this? This is not always the case when bad things happen. But sometimes there is cause and effect. Sometimes we will do horrible things and then reap the consequences. Then we’ll scratch our heads and wonder why.

Like Ahab, we may even have the audacity to blame God for all of it when, in effect, we are simply reaping what we’ve sown.