3.184 "Trouble" Others Righteously
Show Notes
In this episode, Allen Roberds delves into 1 Kings 18:17, where King Ahab confronts the prophet Elijah, calling him the "troubler of Israel." Allen explores how those who righteously call others to repentance and encourage them to choose the right may sometimes be perceived as troublemakers, encouraging listeners to embrace this role with a spiritual perspective.
Key Points
- The prophet Elijah is introduced to King Ahab, who immediately accuses him of troubling Israel, setting the stage for a dramatic confrontation.
- Allen highlights that Elijah's 'trouble' stems from his righteous living and his efforts to call Israel back to God, a perspective often misinterpreted.
- Listeners are encouraged to reflect on times when they or others have been seen as 'troublemakers' for advocating for righteous principles or repentance.
- The episode gives 'license to bug,' suggesting that sometimes, lovingly nudging friends, family, or congregants toward spiritual choices is a righteous act, even if it causes temporary discomfort.
- Allen challenges the audience to embrace the role of a 'troublemaker' by faithfully encouraging others to live righteously, despite potential accusations.
This is Elijah saying, 'Hey, if this is the perspective of being troubling, then be troubling,' is basically what's happening here.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.
Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.
When I was a kid and we were in Primary or in Young Men's and I was asked the question, "What's your favorite chapter, or who's your favorite scripture hero, or anything along those lines?" 1 Kings chapter 18 was where I went. I got to warn you: inside of our readings this week, I might not get out of 1 Kings 12 and 13 and 17 through 22. I might not get out of 1 Kings 18 the rest of the week, but we might get it to the other chapters as well.
I love this chapter and I'm so excited to share a few of my thoughts with you on it. This first one—well, one of the reasons I love this story is it's got such great color to it. Elijah got like a personality that's different from other kind of prophet personalities in the scriptures.
And so I love reading this because I love kind of hearing his context. He even gets a little sassy with the priests of the false gods and everything. But this one, there're just so many good pieces here.
So forgive me as I try to disorganize my thoughts. I know what I want to share today. I just get excited about all these one-liners and these thoughts inside of 1 Kings 18.
I hope you find your own insights as you dive into this. We've been introduced to Elijah already through miraculous ways, as we did yesterday and the day before. Now we're getting into Elijah.
Elijah is starting to get known, right? He's known around the tribes of Israel. And we get this kind of introduction to him.
And then it's time for him to go back and talk to the leaders, right? He's going to talk to Ahab. And our verse for today is 1 Kings 18, verse 17.
It says, "And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" What an introduction, right? Been a while since you've seen someone and they're like, "Are you the guy causing all the trouble?" I love it. I love it because Elijah's answer, he just feeds it right back.
And I guess some of these aspects of Elijah's story just kind of fit my personality a little bit. I certainly can have a sassy or sarcastic side to me as well, although I try to tone it down a little bit if it's going to cause issues. So what is it about this verse?
Why did we pick this verse? My friends, as I think back to my times, especially like my teenage years, there were times where I saw my parents as the ones causing trouble in my life. There were times when I saw my Young Men's leaders as the ones that were causing trouble in my life.
Right. And I had this perspective sometimes of, like, "Why are you bugging me?" Right. "Can you just leave me alone for a bit?" And maybe teens, if you're listening to these episodes here or to this one today specifically, maybe you've felt that same way about friends or family members or leaders in the Church. "Why are you bugging me?" And this verse here actually gives license to bug. Parents, leaders, bishops, whoever's listening to this, this is Elijah saying, "Hey, if this is the perspective of being troubling, then be troubling," is basically what's happening here.
Because the perspective—these people have gone astray, and Elijah is the only one living righteously and continuing to try to get others to live righteously as well. He is preaching repentance. He's preaching righteousness, and he is seen as the troublemaker in Israel.
My friends, I think it's an opportunity for us to open our eyes and realize when we have friends, family members, parents, loved ones that are calling us to repentance, that are encouraging us to choose the right, that are nudging us over to do the things that we know religiously we should be doing, our view may be that they're the troublemakers. But I would encourage them and you to stay the troublemakers. Thank you for watching. Thanks for watching!
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.