17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. I Kings 17:1-7 NASB
It must have been tough being a prophet. King Ahab knew right well that he had done wrong by marrying the wicked Jezebel. He knew right well that he had done wrong by abandoning the worship of God for the worship of idols.
Yet it wasn’t politically correct to speak the truth to a powerful king. In fact it was downright dangerous. It fell to the prophet Elijah to tell King Ahab that God was about to punish him with drought.
There are consequences to telling a powerful king that God is about to punish him. The king cannot hurt God – but he can go after the messenger. So God sent Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith.
It’s still tough being a ‘prophet’. Our society that has by and large abandoned the worship of God for the worship of the secular idols of humanism, materialism and hedonism, among others. Those in positions of power and influence cannot hurt God, but they can and do go after those who call them back to truth and godliness.
The appropriate response would be to heed God’s messenger.
– SSXG