There
is a movie myth about. Have you ever noticed that, in the movies, the secret
agent is always good looking, well spoken and highly noticeable? James
Bond practically screams “secret agent.” It plays well in Hollywood, but not
in real life. The successful secret agent is one who is never noticed.
Something
like that shows up in our study today.
(1 Ki 18:1-16 NIV) After a long time, in the third year,
the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and
I will send rain on the land." {2} So Elijah went to present himself to
Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, {3} and Ahab had summoned Obadiah,
who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. {4}
While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred
prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them
with food and water.) {5} Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go through the land
to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses
and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals." {6} So
they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and
Obadiah in another. {7} As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah
recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my
lord Elijah?" {8} "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master,
'Elijah is here.'" {9} "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that
you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? {10} As surely as
the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has
not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you
were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. {11} But now you
tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' {12} I don't know where
the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab
and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the
LORD since my youth. {13} Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel
was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in
two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. {14} And now
you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' He will kill
me!" {15} Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I
will surely present myself to Ahab today." {16} So Obadiah went to meet
Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
Elijah
If
anyone’s character is like that of our movie secret agent, it is Elijah – and
ill fitted to the part he is. Like most of the prophets, he’s a reluctant
one. But we see the source of his greatness in this passage:
-
He
has learned – after three years – to trust the Lord. At least, he trusts
him a little.
-
More
importantly for the purposes of this story, he has learned to be
obedient. Obedience is trust in action, the key virtue of the faith.
-
It
shows us one thing: courage, for the believer, comes from trust and
obedience. Elijah is not naturally an extroverted hero – but he does
trust and obey.
Ahab
Actors
know that the role of the hero pays better – but the role of the villain is a
better part. Why? Because anyone can imagine himself a hero – we all daydream
it – but it takes skill to play the villain. Consider this man Ahab:
·
He knows quite
well why this drought has occurred. God has told him, through Elijah. Elijah
called the shot; what more evidence do you need?
·
So what does he do
about it? He goes out looking for water. How characteristic of human beings!
We know the problem, but we aren’t willing to repent – so we try “something
else.” This is the spiritual equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the
Titanic.
How
like us! We feel the judgment of God; we have it proclaimed to us – and what
happens??? We run off in another direction. We know who controls this
universe, yet we hope that somehow our other direction will turn out to be the
right one.
Ahab
himself doesn’t believe this. If he really believed that God did not cause
this drought, why would he be seeking Elijah?
-
Vengeance?
But if Elijah didn’t cause the drought, he’s just a harmless nut case,
right?
-
Relief?
But how could Elijah relieve what he didn’t cause?
No
moth ever went after the flame like Ahab after Elijah. He wants what Elijah
has – true righteousness – but is not willing to change to obtain it. That
about sums up the human condition.
Obadiah
There
is a curious divergence of opinion about the main character of today’s lesson.
Obadiah is praised by commentators who are out of copyright – and condemned by
current commentators. The older commentators take the Scripture at its word,
that Obadiah was a righteous man. The newer ones have a few questions:
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Why
didn’t this righteous man go to Judah, like so many of the priests and
Levites? If monks can hide in monasteries, why couldn’t this man go where
God was worshiped?
-
But
if he had to stay, why didn’t he speak up? After all, he could have been
an anonymous martyr, or perhaps even a famous figure. Surely this is a
failing?
In
short, the complaint is this: Why isn’t Obadiah just like Elijah?
-
He
is. Both men are fearful of being killed.
-
He
is. Both men are faithful.
His
main difference is this: Elijah was called to be a prophet. Obadiah was not.
Why,
then, the modern criticism of this servant of God? Perhaps it is that our
writers today have missed some things:
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The
church is a body – not a collection of identical parts.
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God
assigns tasks to his people; we don’t pick them out.
-
As
he assigns tasks, we must change the way we behave to match those tasks.
Obadiah
is a man with a different task. If you want a testimony to his righteousness,
you need look no further than Ahab:
-
Ahab
knows this man is a righteous man – for he has him in charge of the
palace.
-
He
knows he is a loyal man – for he sends him out in another direction to
search. This man is one who does not need to be watched.
Obadiah,
I submit, has learned three things of the practical side of faith.
In
the world, not of the world.
Consider
his relationship to the worldly authority: King Ahab. We tend in our day to
think that “protest movement” is a good thing. Our Lord taught us – remember
how Peter caught the fish with the coin in its mouth – that anything not
prohibited to us is permitted. Even though we may think it stupid, we are to
be obedient subjects to those in authority. Why?
-
First,
that we may not cause them to stumble. Why should we place an obstacle in
their path to knowing Jesus?
-
Second,
because we know who’s really running this world. When we think the
world’s rulers so important that we must protest, we forget who is really
in charge here.
Why,
then, don’t we behave like this? Why are we so fearful of our authorities, and
what might happen in our land? It is just that: fear. We have forgotten that
“anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.” If he places us in contact with the
world, then in contact we should be.
Some
of us should be ascetics, who withdraw from the world to the monastery, if only
in our own minds. Some of us – but by no means all of us. Most of us are to
be salt and light to the world.
Salt and light
Obadiah
is a practical man. He hides the prophets of God in a cave. In so doing, he
gives us an example of what our Lord was talking about when he told us to be
salt and light.
-
These
prophets are probably those of the “school of Samuel.” In other words,
they are those who are most likely given to preaching, not foretelling the
future. By hiding them, Obadiah preserves the word of God (like salt).
-
Salt
is also a purifier. By hiding these men, Obadiah maintains the means by
which the people might be brought to repentance and therefore purified.
-
Light
is that which shows the way. By his character and by hiding these men,
Obadiah shows us how much he values that.
Interestingly,
light is not the opposite of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Just
as evil is the corruption of good. Obadiah shows us here that it is sufficient
to be righteous – and it is also necessary.
The remnant
A
consistent theme of the Old Testament, explicitly proclaimed in the New
Testament, is that God purifies his people via “the remnant.” When times are
evil, as they are now, it is the remnant that preserves the word of God. That
word later breaks out. How, then, do we know if we are “in the remnant?”
-
It
is a “for us or against us” position. If you are compromising with the
world, you are not in the remnant.
-
It
shows in your daily life – by what you are, by what you say, by what you do.
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You
will feel it. There is often a sense – as Obadiah had here – of being
“alone.” But do not fear; you are the apple of God’s eye.
The
time will come when the remnant will break out, and God will have purified his
church. In the meanwhile, we might profitably ask ourselves these questions:
1.
To what are you
called? God has given each of us a calling. Most are not called to be
preachers, teachers or prophets. But do not fear; all things can be done to
the glory of God. Know what you are called for, and do it to God’s glory.
2.
Wherever it is
that you are called, are you salt and light there? Are you the one who
preserves what is good, true and righteous? Are you the one who exposes what
hides in darkness?
3.
Are you for Him or
against Him? In the remnant, or wondering what the remnant might be?