Obadiah the Faithful

Isn't it interesting how often in scripture we find men and women willing to put themselves out there; willing to do things that might get them in big trouble or even killed. We find ourselves face to face with one of those people today, Obadiah.

As a side note, you might be wondering if this Obadiah was the same one that wrote the book Obadiah. Well, I was wondering that myself - and no, it does not appear to the be same man. Obadiah was a common name in the region at that time.

So who was this Obadiah? Good question; so glad you asked :) Let's go to the Word for our answer. Please read I Kings 18:1-15. Obadiah, we find out in verse 3, was a "devout believer in the LORD". While Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets, Obadiah was hiding them ~~ a hundred of them in fact and hiding them in caves and supplying them with food and water. If Obadiah would have been found out they would have most assuredly killed him. But it is obvious from this passage that he loved the God, and was willing to try and protect those called by Him. Obadiah shows great bravery and courage in this passage. This would have been difficult to achieve, but he did.

Remember there is still a devastating famine going on in the land, so Ahab tells Obadiah that they are going to go looking for a patch of land that maybe still has some grass on it among the springs and valleys. So Ahab goes in one direction and Obadiah in the other. Obadiah ends up meeting Elijah. Obadiah knows immediately who it is (vs 7).

Now to me in verse 8 Elijah has a pretty simple request of Obadiah; "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'" But Obadiah's response is not what might be expected from a man of God. He wants to know what he's done wrong that Elijah would request this of him. You see Obadiah had been sent by Ahab to look for Elijah many times, and each time when he could not be found, Ahab made that nation swear that they could not find him. So if Obadiah went to Ahab and told him he found Elijah and then he didn't show up, well lights out for Obadiah.

Well in verse 15 Elijah puts Obadiah's fears to rest by telling him that he would present himself to Ahab that very day.

Now what does this say to us today. To be scared or fearful? No I don't believe that is what it is saying at all. This was a very real situation to Obadiah. We read these things sometimes and because we know what happens, tend to think "What's up Obadiah? This is Elijah. If he says he'll be there he'll be there." But put yourself there for a moment. Obadiah knew that it would be lights out, sianara, if he said Elijah would be there and wasn't. So what's a guy to do? Trust God, and that is exactly what Obadiah did. We will find out next time how this turns out (unless you want to read ahead, which is soooooooo okay with me :)

So give it a try ~~ trust God with that problem; that thing that you just can't get out of your head or off of your heart. God has asked me to do that very thing this summer, trust Him with something that I've been trying to do on my own. So that is what I'm doing, trusting Him with it. No it has not been easy, in fact it has been very difficult, but when I decided to surrender this to Him He has so guided and helped me with it. So go ahead give that thing to Him and trust Him. He'll guide you dear one, He loves you so much.

Have a terrific weekend. Enjoy those city fireworks and be safe.

Dawn