1 Kings 18:17-20
"17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.”
20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel."
Ahab's question to Elijah (17) and the prophet's reply have a very considerable significance and we should try to see the application to spiritual work in general. There is a sense in which Ahab was right; Elijah was the troubler of Israel. Any man who preaches the word of God faithfully will inevitably be a troubler, for the word that he speaks is necessarily a disturbing factor in the lives of those who listen to it. The word of God divides men, and sifts their hearts and precipitates a crisis in their lives. In this respect every true preacher is liable to be charged, as Elijah was, with causing disturbance in the community. But - and this is the important thing to realise - the troubling comes because hearts are resistant to the word of the Lord. Ahab was the real culprit, not Elijah, because he had rejected and repudiated the summons to repent and mend his ways, because he had forsaken the commandments of the Lord. A collision had taken place between the will of God and the proud, arrogant will of the king and his court, and since God is stronger than man and in a position to assert His will, disturbance is inevitable. There is no troubling in hearts that accept His word and will, but contrariwise blessing and peace. His commandments are not grievous - except to those who refuse them!