“Elijah replied, ‘I have not ruined Israel, but you and your father’s family have, because you have abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals.’” (1 Kings 18:18)
We hear a lot about justice, judges, trials, and the like on the news today. None of it seems very just – much of it seems like a travesty of justice. While we know that human judgement is flawed by sin, can we trust God’s judgement?
This passage considers justice in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab. Ahab was a wicked king, who married an even more wicked woman, Jezebel. This passage tells us that she slaughtered the Lord’s prophets, while 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah ate at her table.
In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah, God’s prophet and mouthpiece, told King Ahab that God was going to send a famine to the northern kingdom of Israel (also called Samaria), because Ahab had turned the people away from worshipping the true God to worship the false gods of Baal and Asherah.
The famine was long and brutal. At the end of the three years, God sent Elijah to tell King Ahab that the famine was going to end. When Ahab saw Elijah, he accused him of ruining Israel with the famine. Elijah, fearing for his life, replied, “I have not ruined Israel, but you and your father’s family have, because you have abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals.” (1 Kings 18:18)
In the remainder of 1 Kings 18, God showed himself mightier than all the prophets of Baal and Asherah, and the people responded by saying “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:39) And then it rained!
God’s judgement often seems harsh and cruel. Yet, it is God’s judgment on sin that restrains evil and suffering. God is holy, omniscient (knows everything), and just. He is the one true God and is unwilling to share his authority with any other god. We subject ourselves to God’s righteous judgement when we disobey. We escape God’s judgement and live in his protection when we follow his commands. God has given us freedom to choose. Choose rightly!