Read 1 Kings 18:1-16a

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (2 Chronicles‬ ‭16:9a‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 70: Obadiah. Right now, having read this series up until this point, one might be drawing the conclusion that the northern Kingdom of Israel was filled completely to the brim with wickendness. But that is neither fair, nor would it be accurate. As with any nation, there are good and faithful people within it and there are wicked and unfaithful people within it. What we need to keep in perspective is the fact that the writers who were writing against Israel, were trying to show how wayward the kingdom was from God; however, they do not spend much time on highlighting any faithfulness, barring a few.

Still, not everyone in Israel bowed to Baal, and there are a few who are lifted up as perfect examples. One such person was named Obadiah, not to be confused with the prophet by whom the eponymous Biblical book was written. In 1 Kings 18, Obadiah is revealed to be what is known as a majordomo, or someone who speaks on behalf of and takes charge for another person. He was in charge of the king’s palace and the king’s affairs.

That is not all the Bible reveals about this man; rather, it is revealed that while he was employed by Ahab, the King of Israel, he was actually a devoted follower of the LORD. When Jezebel was waging a bloodbath persecution of any and all of God’s prophets, Obadiah was running an “underground railroad” of sorts. He hid 100 prophets of the LORD in two separate caves so that they would not be killed. On top of that, he supplied them with food and water.

Doing this, no doubt, came at great risk to him and, while the Bible does not specify this, it is not a stretch to think that the prophet Elijah had interactions with Obadiah during that time. What is clear is that Obadiah recognizes Elijah when he sees him. During that interaction, the prophet asks Obadiah to announce to King Ahab that he has arrived and would like to have a meeting with the king.

At first, Obadiah is reluctant because, up until this point, Elijah was elusive and was the only prophet that Ahab and Jezebel couldn’t capture and kill. Had Obadiah given the king an announcement that turned out to be not true because Elijah pulled a trick and fled the scene, it would have cost Obadiah his life. Elijah did give him the assurance he was looking for and, once he had it, he did as the prophet requested and brought the message to the king.

We don’t know anything else about this particular person other than what I described above; however, the story of Obadiah reminds us a couple of things about ourselves. Each of us has the potential to be puppets of the world; however, each of us also have the potential (and the call) to be followers of God. No doubt, following God comes with risk and potential consequences that can come at great personal cost; however, following God is the right thing to do. The challenge for us is this: will we take the risks to do what is right and follow God, or will we be the silent majority, complicit in our complacency. The choice is ours to make.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

The righteous in alignment with God’s justice.

PRAYER

Lord, guide me to choose what is right over what safe. Amen.