Have you ever been in a storm at sea? Thunder mingles with the roar of waves beating against the side of the boat. Lightning zigzags across the sky and seems to pierce the froth of the wild breakers. Passengers slip and slide and clutch at rails at the side of the corridors, or collide with furniture as they try to cross a cabin.
The sailors in the ship where Jonah was peacefully sleeping below did everything they could to keep their boat afloat before they began their search for someone to blame for the storm. It was Jonah’s fault, you remember, because he had turned from the word of God to him at that time to do an exactly opposite thing. His refusal to believe that God’s word to him was of primary importance, and to act upon it in that moment of history, affected not only himself but other people—the sailors at that dramatic moment, and also the people of Nineveh. Jonah was the “troubler,” responsible for a physical storm affecting other people, and responsible for spiritual ignorance on the part of a whole city.
Happily for the sailors, and for Nineveh, Jonah learned a tremendous lesson within the great fish’s belly. Jonah had a great change within, and God answered his cry for deliverance. He gave Jonah another opportunity to consider the importance of His word to him, and to act upon it. Jonah’s proclamation of the word of God to Nineveh affected the people of that city to the extent that they repented, and their history was changed.
For whom are we in danger of causing trouble? What people are we plunging into a storm at sea? Is “compassion” simply a musical sounding word in our mouths? Are we unwilling to pay a price to act compassionately toward those who are affected by us?
Another person in the Bible spoke about “troubling”: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” A drought had brought famine for a long time, and the one asking the question was King Ahab, who accused Elijah of being the cause of this trouble. The answer was swift and spoken with the authority of a prophet of the living God: “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim” (1 Kings 18:18). (In chapter 16 we were told that Ahab had made altars to worship the false god Baal, and had done more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than any other king of Israel.)
It is right at this point in First Kings 18 that we have the marvelous story of Elijah’s confrontation with the 450 priests of the false god Baal. The children of Israel, these who have been led astray by Ahab their king, gather around. “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21).
Elijah then told the prophets of Baal to put a bullock on the altar and then call upon their god to send fire to burn it. He said he would take a second bullock and do the same thing, calling upon the living God to send down fire.
All day long the prophets of Baal called, cried, shouted to their god, even going into a frenzy and slashing themselves with knives to make their pleas more effective. Nothing happened. Elijah mocked them and told them to cry louder—perhaps, he said, your god is asleep, or taking a journey. Their cries and self-mutilation continued until the evening, but there was no answer, because there was no one to answer.
After putting his bullock on his altar, Elijah poured so much water on the altar that the wood was wet and a trench around the altar was filled with water. Then he lifted up his heart and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”
What an answer! “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”
Elijah had his prayer answered, and he was vindicated, right after he had been called “the troubler of Israel.” The result was that many were brought out of the darkness into which Ahab had led them, into the light of the truth.
Centuries later the accusation thrown at Elijah was thrown at Paul and Silas. Some men caught them, brought them to the rulers, and said, “These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.” As a result Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten and with many raw wounds on their backs were thrown into prison.
The result of this confrontation between those who were set on punishing Paul and Silas for preaching the truth of God’s Word and powerful living God himself was not only the earthquake that freed the men from their stocks and chains but the “inner earthquake” that freed the jail keeper of the chains of doubt and brought him to the place of asking what he should do to be saved.
We need to ask the question today, “Who is the troubler of Israel?” First, there are the Jonahs who are believers, servants of the true and living God, but are turning away in the opposite direction geographically, or doctrinally, or turning from some specific message or task, thereby bringing storms on innocent fellow sailors, or depriving groups of people from hearing the truth. Second, there are the Ahabs, who have turned away from God’s Word while in leadership of his people, while at the same time accusing the true prophets of disturbing the peace. Third, there are the Pauls and Silases, who are being persecuted and falsely accused of being “troublers of the city,” while they are obediently speaking and teaching the word of the Lord.
It is important to be sure that in God’s sight we are among those who are falsely accused, rather than in Ahab’s or Jonah’s place. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
EDITH SCHAEFFER
