Elijah and Obadiah

 •  10 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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“THE fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The unregenerate are not in this secret: they have “no fear of God before their eyes.” In the Lord Jesus we see this grace, like every other, in perfection. In His saints, this blessed workmanship of the Spirit is more or less manifested, according to the measure of the gift of grace, and the sphere of walk and service to which they are called. Elijah had long walked in the fear of the Lord; he, therefore, feared not the wicked and mighty Ahab. This dignified man of the earth was but weak and impotent in the account of the man of faith, who waited upon the Lord God of Israel with a circumcised ear. The believing eye beholds the Majesty of heaven as having all dominion and might, and perceives Him overruling all the ways of men, to carry out His own eternal purposes and counsels; thus making even the wrath of man to praise Him. The spirit of the prophet had rested in the fear of the Lord for “many days,” in the retirement of the widow’s house at Zarephath. Now, however, the voice of Him whom He fears commands his steps and services in another direction, and, like one of old, he is able to say, “Behold, here am I.” “And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” This must have been an affecting announcement to the quiet and happy little circle at Zarephath; but the prophet seems not surprised; he is ready for the bold service. He was, we know, a man of prayer; and the blessedness of secret dealing with God is again made manifest. Happy indeed, beloved, are those who, while occupying the retirement and quiet of the family circle, can yet be found with girded loins and the staff in hand when the Master calls, ready to bear an open testimony for the Lord before the face of His enemies. Such, I presume, was the state of soul of this dear servant of the Lord, for we are told that “Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab.” What can be more instructive to us, beloved, or more beautifully in season than this fruit of the Spirit of God? How needful that we should so diligently use our leisure moments in fellowship with the Lord, that we may be prepared unto every good word and work, or that, when he cometh and knocketh, we may open to Him immediately!
But there was another in the land besides Elijah who “feared the Lord greatly,” and who also, in another sphere and manner, glorified the God of Israel. Though members of the same elect family, they were not gifted alike—not called to show forth the characteristics of the Lord in the same line of things; nevertheless, both were vessels of mercy, both wrought on by the same Spirit, both servants of the Lord, both fearing the God of Israel, but each was called to a distinct character of service, even as it is now. Obadiah does not seek to imitate Elijah, nor Elijah to perform the same kind of service as Obadiah. They both fear the Lord, and seek, more or less, to do HS holy will, though their faith and love flow out in different channels. Elijah, evidently, was specially called to bear a public testimony to the nation of Israel, while Obadiah’s place was to glorify God in the king’s palace—he “was governor of the king’s house.”
As a servant to his earthly master, Obadiah was, doubtless, faithful and true. It was a place of trust, as well as of honor and distinction; and his feeding the prophets of the Lord, whom his mistress had condemned to death, plainly skews the reality of his fear of God, his love to the brethren, and the readiness with which he could risk his own life, rather than unite with the enemies of the Lord in the persecution of His servants. With all this godly fear, however, there was no fellowship of spirit between Elijah and Obadiah when they came together, though they knew each other. Obadiah lacked an important feature in the character of his divine Master. “The world cannot hate you,” said Jesus, “but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:77The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. (John 7:7)). Our blessed Lord not only walked in holy separation from the evil that surrounded Him, but He also reproved its ungodly character. He was in every sense the Faithful Witness. We do not, I observe, find this faithful testimony in Obadiah; hence, he was ill prepared for fellowship in the Spirit with Elijah. The king’s house, in which he abode, was not only the house which was best supplied with provisions in the time of sore famine; but, as it has been in all ages, was also a place of earthly honor, distinction, and authority. This history, however, is very important, as showing us, that one may fear the Lord greatly, and yet come short of the Lord’s mind; in one’s ways be glorifying God in some things, and fall far behind in others; and that some of the household of faith, through reserves and unfaithfulness, may be incapable of walking in fellowship with the more single-eyed followers of the Lord Jesus.
Elijah, doubtless, felt, when he met Obadiah, that his position savored too much of the world, to enable him to reckon upon much fellowship with him. The honored prophet had for years been trusting in the living God for daily bread, and had found that neither the cruse of oil had failed, nor the barrel of meal wasted. Obadiah, however, was running over the land, at Ahab’s command, to find grass to save the cattle alive; and Elijah recognizes him as the king’s servant, and says, “Go, tell thy lord, Behold Elijah is here.” This was, indeed, a most extraordinary request, for which Obadiah was not at all prepared. Though a man of God, he had not been, practically, a man of faith; and, therefore, instead of considering the matter in the light of God’s countenance, he receives the summons with an uncircumcised ear, judges after a carnal manner, and reckons from what he knows of the character and ways of the king, on nothing less than the loss of his life. “What have I sinned,” said he, “that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me” (v. 9-14).
How unlike the language of faith is this verbose reply to the prophet’s request! Fear of man, distrust of God, and self-complacency, are its principal elements; and I would ask, what other character of things emanate from souls that are not walking in the light, as He is in the light? Hath not the Scripture concluded that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin”? Doth not this little narrative forcibly remind us of that proverb, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith?” The atmosphere of Ahab’s palace, untestified against, was too defiling for such fine fruit of the Spirit to luxuriate in, as was found so seasonable and matured in the retired cottage at Zarephath. We do well to remember that our calling is into the fellowship of Christ, who hath delivered us from the present evil world, and who said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” But this lesson is only to be learned effectually by the heart and conscience becoming acquainted with the mind of God in Christ crucified. The cross of our Lord Jesus indelibly records the alienated and corrupt condition of the world. Its wisdom, religion, and power, all combined to crucify “the Lord of glory.” “He came into the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” But while the cross of Christ thus so legibly depicts the whole world as lying in the Wicked-one, it also proclaims the full forgiveness of our sins, our deliverance from guilt and death, and our complete and everlasting salvation. The instruction we unquestionably gather from thus meditating on Christ crucified, is not only that we should “come out from among the ungodly, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing,” but also, that we should “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” The word of “testimony” is associated in the sacred Scriptures with overcoming by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:1111And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)). May we have no reserves, beloved, but increasingly desire to “stand perfect and complete in ALL the will of God!”
The Spirit of God reads to us deeply solemn and searching lessons in this short but comprehensive narrative. It will be profitable, and redound to the glory of God, if it serve to warn any of us against the pernicious error of fearing men, instead of serving our “masters according to the flesh, in singleness of heart, fearing God.” Had a plain faithful testimony been given to the wicked king, by his believing servant, he would not have given such an unspiritual reply to the Lord’s prophet: but, “the fear of man bringeth a snare.” Elijah, however, patiently hears the loquacious answer of Obadiah; but his eye, at this moment, was too single to notice it; and, therefore, as one who consciously abides in the presence of God, and is firmly set upon doing His will, Elijah says, “As the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him to day” (v. 15).
This was a solemn era in Obadiah’s life, for he felt at this moment, I believe, in common with many others under soul-convictions, that his career had arrived at such a crisis as compelled him to take a step, either forward in the fear of the Lord, with the prospect of suffering, or backward, through the fear of man, into the snare of the enemy, with the human prospect of ease and quietness. The wise and unyielding decision of the man of faith was so forcible, exemplary, and unanswerable, that Obadiah, without another word, “went to meet Ahab: and told him.” Thus, the snare was broken, the trembling, halting, God-fearing man delivered, the service of the Lord performed; and the imaginary evil, which the adversary had made so formidable to his fleshly fears, now vanished before the step of faith— “Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.”
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Those who choose disobedience and embrace sin, will be overpowered by sin and embraced with wrath. Happy only those who have confessed sin, and, self-condemned, go through Christ to God’s embrace.
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“I go to prepare a place for you.” We too often lose sight of the way: we speak of Him as our Advocate now with the Father, but do not bear in mind His sufferings—how He came at the right hand of God.
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Man regards you according to the power of your hand; God and the godly regard the heart.