A Passion For Justice - Elijah

Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the LORD’s sight.”

1 Kings 21:20

Standing before Judge Horace Gray, who would one day serve on the United States Supreme Court, a man who had escaped conviction on a technicality listened as Gray told him, “I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law.”

Horace Gray achieved greatness as a judge because he had a passion for justice. Gray also understood that ultimate justice remained in God’s hands. The prophet Elijah also had that kind of passion; it was part of what made him one of the Bible’s true heroes of faith.

Elijah courageously and steadfastly pronounced judgment on Ahab, the king of Israel, for conspiring with his wife Jezebel to have an innocent man named Naboth stoned to death on trumped-up charges of blasphemy. Ahab wanted Naboth’s family vineyard for himself, and he would stop at nothing to get it. In his mind, being king entitled him to whatever he wanted, so he misused his position of authority to take it.

When God informed Elijah of what had happened, the prophet grew so angry and indignant that he confronted Ahab face-to-face as the king stood in the very vineyard that he had acquired by committing murder. There Elijah courageously pronounced God’s judgment on Ahab for concocting such an evil scheme.

Elijah was a good man with a passionate sense of commitment to God’s justice. That included standing up on behalf of those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. When he saw such a terrible wrong committed against an innocent man, he could not stand by and do nothing.

Are you willing to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves? God blesses those who act from a sense of true justice. The world needs more Elijahs!