Spiritual Drought
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law.1
After hearing Jesus’s most famous sermon, The Sermon on the Mount, the crowds who gathered that day were impressed with the difference between the teaching of this rural carpenter-turned-rabbi and the well-known teachers of that day.
What exactly was the difference?
In a word - LIFE.
I’ve been sharing about the ministry of the prophet Elijah at Embrace Church and in recent posts. The three-and-one-half-year drought that the prophet foretold was a physical sign of a spiritual reality - the personal, powerful, life-changing word of God was absent in Israel.
That’s not to say there were no prophets and teachers. There certainly were. As the story of Elijah progresses, and as he devotes himself to training other prophets who speak the Living Word of God, we see a growing conflict between those prophets who were the “King’s men” and those who stood against the syncretistic nationalist religion of the day; a religion that catered to political favor rather than the living God.
Take the case of Michaiah in I Kings, chapter twenty-two.
King Ahab of Israel is seeking an alliance with King Jehoshaphat of Judah in a war against Aram (or Syria). In an effort to convince Jehoshaphat that God will grant this alliance success, he calls in four hundred of his loyal preacher-prophets. Every single one of these politically motivated yes men assures both Ahab and Jehoshaphat's success.
But King Jehoshaphat is of a much more noble character than King Ahab. He’s skeptical, to say the least. Questioning the motives of the other prophets, he asks if there is not some other prophet, one not aligned with Ahab’s “yes men” to provide counsel.
Enter the prophet Michaiah. Taught by Elijah, along with several other anonymous prophets who appear in Scripture but whose names are not known, Michaiah, at first, taunts and teases Ahab saying Attack and be victorious, for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.2
Ahab, hearing the sarcasm in Michaiah’s voice, rebukes him, demanding that he says what he really believes. (Of course, this is the last thing Ahab really wants, as seen by the fact that after Michaiah says what he does, he has him thrown in prison.)
And what does Michaiah say? He tells Ahab that he is surrounded by a bunch of deceived liars and that disaster is coming.3
That’s when the leader of the liars, Zedekiah, slaps Michaiah in the face, insulting and taunting the only prophet assembled with the integrity and intestinal fortitude not to embrace this wicked king. And off to prison goes Michaiah.
Death and disaster are the inevitable consequences of spiritual drought.
Life, hope, and peace are the blessings of God’s Living Word.
Approximately 800 years after this incident with Michaiah, Israel’s greatest prophet, Christ Jesus, was silenced just as the faithful prophets before him.
Days before his crucifixion at the hands of Israel’s politically motivated religious leaders, Jesus, in the hearing of all the people, said this -
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!4
And complete it they did. The ones who had said - If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” - silenced the Lamb of God.5
Notice the emphasis on "our place," prioritized above "our nation."
It wasn’t long after that (a few decades) that disaster came to the nation.
The most dangerous thing about spiritual drought is that there are always deceived prophets who claim to speak for God but who, ultimately, lead God’s people to disaster.
It’s an age-old story. As old as the Bible and repeated often.
Lord, grant your people the discernment and wisdom to see past those who would reject your Living Word because their “place” matters more than your truth and your way, seen so clearly in Jesus. Amen.
In Christ,
Dan
You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.
Matthew 7:28-29
I Kings 22:15b.
I Kings 22:23.
Matthew 23:30-32.
John 11:48.