Attachment to the Spirit: Kings & Chronicles
Will I Survive This?
When I scanned the list of available blog posts for our team, my eyes naturally went to the option of 1 Kings-2 Chronicles (Please, don’t stop reading! There’s no way I could cover all those chapters in one post.) I am currently studying 1 Kings with one of the girls I disciple, so I knew exactly which story I wanted to land on. While it is in the Elijah chapters (who remains one of my favorite Old Testament characters), the story isn’t about the prophet. In fact, it’s about a household servant (I guess you could even call him a nobody).
Yep, that’s the story I want.
In 1 Kings 18, we see the LORD sending Elijah the prophet to King Ahab in the third year of a predicted drought. The land—and its people have suffered for three years. In verse 2, we learn that the famine was severe in Samaria (where Ahab reigned as king over Israel (1 Kings16:29). We also learn that the king calls Obadiah (the man who resides over Ahab’s household) to go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys, looking for grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so they won’t have to kill some of their cattle. In fact, Obadiah would go one way, and the king would go the other. But it’s the detail we’re given in the parentheses that adds to the story we’re looking for. This is where we learn that Obadiah feared the LORD greatly, so that when Queen Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, he single-handedly took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, then provided them with bread and water.
Did you see that? When we meet Obadiah, we learn that he feared the LORD greatly, and that he not only protected the LORD’s prophets from an evil queen, but he also provided for them by feeding them in a time of severe drought. That would take some careful thought and some major courage, and it’s a detail I don’t want to miss.
A Behold Moment
As Obadiah followed his king’s command, surveying the portion of land assigned to him alone, behold, Elijah met him along the way. The dialogue that follows is so interesting to me. In verse 9, we read Obadiah’s immediate response to the run-in with Elijah:
“What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?”
His first go-to was the probability that he had done something wrong and God was punishing him for it, …because we do that! Certainly, the LORD wouldn’t set us up to suffer. Certainly, it must be something we have done. Certainly, God is good, and death isn’t good, so I’ve done something to bring this on!
Obadiah goes on to say,
“I know, as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you where I do not know; so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me, although I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth. Haven’t you heard what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets? I hid a hundred prophets by fifties, and provided them with bread and water. And now you’re saying, “Go and tell your master you’re here”; he will kill me!” (1Kings 18:12-14).
It almost makes me laugh when I read this again. Seriously, haven’t you and I done this? Haven’t we wanted someone to know just how good we’ve been, perhaps even righteous? Haven’t we also feared the Lord greatly in one breath, then feared an evil human standing in front of us in the next? Haven’t we thought more about the possibility of a God who punishes us for our sin than the One who lovingly gives us eternal redemption and life everlasting?
Please tell me I’m not the only Obadiah here.
Notice the Response
Notice how Elijah responds. He doesn’t rebuke Obadiah; he just states the facts. In 1 Kings 18:15, Elijah says to Obadiah: “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today”.
Did you see it? The prophet said nothing about Obadiah. He didn’t use his name or even refer to him with a pronoun. He also didn’t promise Obadiah he wouldn’t die. What he did promise was that the LORD of all the armies of heaven and earth lives (present tense).
Evidently, that was all Obadiah really needed to know.
As much as we sometimes want it to be, it’s just not about our story; it’s about His.
We cannot control our life or our death, but we can heed the charge the LORD gives us (the same one He gave those who came before us):
“Be strong and courageous, for the LORD our God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail or forsake you”.
