Dave Murrow, in his book about the motivation of males, writes,
President Woodrow Wilson said, “Men are in love with power and greatness.” Men constantly fantasize about it. The movies they watch, the video games they play, and the books they read always feature a powerful hero who does great things. Every man wants to be a hero, to become a great man. Boys do not dream of sitting in a cubicle; they dream of slaying the dragon, rescuing the Princess, and absconding with the treasure. My boyhood fantasy was to catch the winning pass in the Super bowl. I can't tell you how many times I stretched out my arms and fell across the bed hauling in the game winner as the crowd went wild in the stands.
Not only do men want to be great, but they want to be recognized as being great. An athlete who wins a championship wears a ring the rest of his life. A fellow who gets the high score on a video game calls his friends over to look at the screen. Businessmen work hard not just for money but also for the recognition that accompanies their achievement. The number one reason people quit their jobs is not lack of money, it's lack of recognition. A man who attracts a good-looking woman shows her off as a symbol of his greatness.
What does all this mean? If you want to capture the heart of a man, especially a young man, you have to offer him a shot at greatness” (Why Men Hate Going to Church).
Jesus did not condemn this innate masculine desire for greatness. To the contrary, he built upon it to motivate men to true greatness—serving others. Today we study a model of true greatness and as greatness tends to do, that greatness is revealed under great pressure.
Today’s study looks at a truly great man from God’s point of view and ours! He was a man of
- Great loyalty
- Great competence
- Great cunning
- Great courage
- Great reverence for God
- Great generosity
- Great discernment
- Great trust in God
Remarkably, this great, godly man served in the highest position in evil King Ahab’s court. His name was Obadiah. We pick up the story in 1 Kings 18:1
After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.
And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; and he will kill me.” And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah (1 Kings 18:1-16).
This Obadiah is not the same Obadiah who has an OT book named for him. Obadiah was a common name in Israel, meaning “one who serves Yahweh.” This Obadiah lived 300 years before the later Obadiah would be prophesying.
NINE ASPECTS OF OBADIAH’S GREATNESS
1. He was competent. We are told that Obadiah was over King Ahab’s household. Using today’s terminology, Obadiah was King Ahab’s Chief of Staff. Ther is only one way that Obadiah could have risen to and remained the King’s right-hand man—he was excellent at what he did. We can assume that if Obadiah had not been above reproach and extremely competent, Queen Jezebel would have found a way to get him fired.
Many Christian men don’t think of competence at work being very important because they are missing a biblical view of “secular” work. Our work matters because God assigned us the task of developing Earth’s potential. The word, “subdue” indicates that, though all God made was good, it was still to a great degree undeveloped. Richard Platt explains:
The Great King has summoned each of us into his throne room. “Take this portion of my kingdom,” he says, “I am making you my steward over your office, your workbench, your kitchen stove. Put your heart into mastering this part of my world. Get it in order: unearth its treasures; do all you can with it. Then everyone will see what a glorious King I am.” That’s why we get up every morning and go to work. We don’t labor simply to survive, insects do that. Our work is an honor, a privileged commission from our great King. God has given each of us a portion of his kingdom to explore and to develop to its fullness.
Dorothy Sayers lamented the lack of connection between our secular work and our Christianity, over a generation ago. She asked,
How can anyone remain interested in a religion that seems to have no concern for nine tenths of his life. The church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly on Sundays. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables (Creed or Chaos).
2. Obadiah was Trusted by Ahab. Not only was Obadiah so trusted that he became the steward of Ahab’s household, Ahab trusted him to be as vigilant as himself in searching for underground springs and grass, splitting the search area between them both. So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. It is remarkable how many times godly followers of Yahweh in the OT were raised to positions of trust by their pagan kings, despite the violent clash of their worldviews. Joseph wins the trust of Potiphar, and then of Pharoh. Nehemiah wins the trust of Persian King Artaxerxes who agrees not only to let him go to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, the chief city of his homeland, but agrees to donate the materials from his own supplies. Daniel so won the respect of Persian King Darius that after false accusations got Daniel put in a lion’s den and God delivered Daniel, Darius wrote,
I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. (Daniel 6:26-28).
The OT greats that spent every waking hour in pagan environments avoided conveying a holier than thou attitude. They could not have reflected the judgmental attitude exhibited by some Christians today or they would not have been so respected by the leaders they served. Such Christians promote the heresy of “separationism” citing the words “Come out and be separate” from 2 Corinthians 6:17, and giving it a wrong interpretation, which leads to self-righteousness, and disdain for the lost. Instead, Obadiah, Daniel, Joseph, and Nehemiah must have reflected the humility, grace, and servanthood of Jesus who washed his disciples’ feet, welcomed a repentant prostitute to wash his feet with her hair, and was know as the friend of sinners. Even in the midst of the clash of the kingdom of darkness with the kingdom of light, which engages us in battle, we must remember that the lost are not the enemy, they are held captive by the enemy. As salt, and leaven we are to mix and befriend the lost as Jesus did—not separate from them.
This calling has been dramatically put on display by Flip Benham, the national director of the pro-life organization, Operation Rescue. He and his staff moved into office space right beside the Choice for Women abortion clinic in Dallas. A dramatic spiritual battle took place on the sidewalk outside the clinic, a battle so concerning to Dallas police that they often parked their police cars outside their offices. One of the abortion counselors was Norma McCorvey, the real name of Jane Roe in the abortion case Roe V. Wade. In her book, Won by Love, McCorvey describes how the love and friendship of Flip Benham and the Operation Rescue staff won her to Jesus. In fact, before her conversion, that friendship was so well known that they were invited on NBC’s Today show to talk about their friendship. When asked how their friendship began, McCorvey said that it began when Flip Benham had sought her forgiveness for speaking harshly to her in an earlier confrontation. Though holding strong convictions on the opposite side of a very public abortion debate than McCorvey held, Flip and the Operation Rescue staff kept reaching out to McCorvey in love. She recalls how mysterious this felt:
At first, I didn't understand why Flip was telling me the stories about his past, especially the ones that made him look less than perfect, like encouraging his wife to get an abortion and staying out all night to drink…. If Flip was supposed to be my arch enemy, why was he giving me information that could prove damaging to his reputation? What I didn't understand at the time was that he was witnessing to me by showing me his failures. He was hoping that I might see how God could forgive my own failures. I didn't realize this because nobody to my knowledge had ever witnessed to me before. I guess they thought I was a lost cause, a hopeless case, someone who would only be a waste of time. And if they had asked me, I would have agreed with them. But for some reason, Flip did not share that opinion. He was one of the few people who did not believe that saving Jane Roe was too big a task even for God.
Finally, one of the sweetest of the women from Operation Rescue invited her again to come to church with her and she said, yes. She picks up the story:
By the time Pastor Sheats got to the ending when he read John 3:16 I felt my heart pounding. “For God so loved the world he read that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The pastor then told everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. He asked, “Is anyone here tired of living a sinner's life?” How could I say no? I had been tired of it for years. But it was the only life I knew. I slowly raised my hand. I opened my eyes and looked up to see if that really was my hand raised up high. It was. I couldn't believe it.
Praise God she placed her faith in Christ to forgive her sins. This happened because Flip and the Operation Rescue team saw Norma McCorvey not as an enemy member of the kingdom of darkness but one made in the image of God being held captive by that kingdom. Somehow the spiritual heroes fight for truth but mix with the lost so thoroughly that Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Obadiah were respected greatly by them.
3. Obadiah feared the LORD greatly. The fear of the is not being afraid of God; it is being afraid to break his laws. It is knowing that if we sow to the sinful nature, we will reap corruption but if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap life now and into eternity. The same message is stated in different ways in Proverbs.
- The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate (Prov 8:13).
- The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death (Prov 14:27).
- By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil (Prov 16:6).
- The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm (Prov 19:23).
- The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life (Prov 22:4).
- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight (Prov 9:10).
The fear of the LORD is understanding that his holiness shapes all of his creation. As A. W Tozer writes.
God is holy and he has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of his universe. Sin’s temporary presence in the world only accents this. Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death. The formation of the language itself suggests this. The English word holy deriving from the Anglo-Saxon halig meaning well or whole.
Since God's first concern for his universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under his eternal displeasure. To preserve his creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When he arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse he is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God's wrath is his utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hates the polio that would take the life of her child (The Knowledge of the Holy).
4. Obadiah was extremely generous. Out of his own pocket, Obadiah fed 100 male prophets everyday for 3.5 years in a country experiencing severe drought. Can you imagine the rate of inflation for bread. Using U.S. standards for the cost of food for an adult per day ($10/day) X 100 prophets = $1000/day for 3.5 years. That is $1,277,500.00. Scripture calls all Christ-followers to generosity, especially for the poor. Jesus taught, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Lk 6:38). Where might God be calling you to be more generous?
5. Obadiah demonstrated enormous courage. Courage does not mean the absence of fear; it means overcoming fear. There is no doubt that if Ahab or Jezebel discovered that Obediah had been hiding and feeding the prophets of God they would have immediately executed Obadiah and perhaps his wife and children. Yet Obadiah manned up and protected the lives of these men. Genesis 2:15 identifies the two callings of manhood. God put Adam in the Garden to “work it” (Heb: AVAD) which means to spend our energy to develop the potential of the garden, which includes our wives and kids. He was also placed in the garden to “keep it” (SHAMAR), which means to protect it. Risking my life to protect those who need protection is as masculine as it gets. That was Obadiah. Is Jesus calling you in some sphere of your life to step out of your comfort zone?
6. Obadiah was cunning. Obadiah, Ahab’s chief of staff, housed 100 of Jezebel’s most hated enemies—the prophets of Yahweh—right under their nose. Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac had not yet been written but I’m sure Obadiah knew the truth of the words Franklin penned. “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” Can you imagine the intrigue, the secrecy, the risks, the worry over Jezebel’s spies, the challenge of collecting and transporting the bread to feed 100 men per day in a land of widespread starvation, without any ally of Ahab or Jezebel finding out? It would have made a great Mission Impossible episode. And think of it—the daily risk of being discovered went on and on for 1277 days!
Jesus calls us to be wise as serpents. Here is a piece of a wise strategy for being persuasive in discussing cultural worldviews; build your case upon mutually accepted authority. This strategy was employed by Jesus when he was seeking to persuade the Sadducees of the resurrection. He most often went to the Psalms to show that the Messiah would rise from the dead. But when talking to the Sadducees, who only accepted the authority of the first 5 books of the Bible, he argued, As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mt 22:32). Here he quotes Exodus 3:6. In our culture, a mutually accepted authority is science. Last night at my fellowship group, a friend shared that a Christian personal trainer at his gym was asked to help a trans woman build muscle mass to transition to becoming a male. The trainer appealed to the mutually accepted authority, science. He persuaded her to stop taking puberty blockers and testosterone injections—based on scientific evidence. His next goal is to share the gospel with her. Obadiah had to be wise as a serpent to keep secret the location of his hidden prophets for 3.5 years, despite having to get food delivered to them frequently.
7. Obadiah was humble. In 1 Kings 18 we read, And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” Paul teaches us in Philippians 2 In humility count others more significant than yourselves. That is the attitude portrayed in Obadiah as he falls at Elijah’s feet. Paul goes on, in that chapter, to point to Jesus, who emptied himself for others. That is the challenge: Biblical humility is not thinking you have little worth; it is not thinking of yourself at all. It is being so focused on loving, building up, and serving others, that self-concern and self-promotion get lost. Do you need Jesus’ help to empty yourself, in order to focus on giving to others what will prosper them?
8. Obadiah was prudent. Proverbs 13:16 says Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly. Similarly, Proverbs 27:12 says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” We see this godly virtue in Obadiah when he objects to Elijah’s Plan: Elijah says:
Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” And Obadiah said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me.
Put yourself in Obadiah’s place. How in the world has Elijah been able to stay hidden from Ahab and Jezebel’s search parties. It probably seemed obvious to Obadiah. The Spirit of the Lord must have just whisked him away. After all, Elijah sure did disappear quickly from Ahab’s court. To be sure, we have no evidence that the Spirit just whisked Elijah away from being discovered; but it was logical to Obadiah to assume that was how Elijah had stayed hidden. So, the Spirit of the Lord might whisk him away from right there. Furthermore, Obadiah knew of Ahab’s anger. He had seen Ahab swear an oath against any who lied that THEY HAD NOT SEEN Elijah; Obadiah could not imagine what would happen to anyone lying to Ahab WHO HAD SEEN ELIJAH, which Ahab would assume Obadiah had, when the Spirit of the Lord whisked Elijah off to who knows where. Obadiah’s objection was prudent.
9. Obadiah obeyed God’s prophet’s word. In 1 Kings 18:15-16 we read, Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. Obadiah believed Elijah’s promise and without hesitation he acted. Instant obedience to God’s command through his prophet. That is true greatness!
For Further Prayerful Thought.
- Obadiah, like Jospeh, Daniel, and Nehemiah rose to the highest of positions of trust given to them by pagan kings whose values collided with their own. In what ways do their examples challenge you?
- What stood out to you in this episode about the relationship of God’s holiness to us exhibiting the fear of the Lord?
- How would you define prudence? Do you think Obadiah’s initial resistance to Elijah’s plan was being overly cautious or properly prudent?
