Servant of God

        1 Kings 18 recounts a meeting between two servants of God.  One man was a little-known fellow named, Obadiah.  Ironically his name literally meant “servant of God.”  The other man was one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament, Elijah.  By the way, Elijah meant “Yahweh is my God.”  It had been a while since these men had seen one another.  The previous three years had been murder—literally.  The King and Queen of Israel (Ahab and Jezebel) were on a crusade to wipe the servants of God from the land.  Ahab hated God's prophets.  He especially hated that prophet, Elijah.  It was Elijah who prayed for it not to rain, and it had not rained for three years!  In Ahab's thirst for blood and vengeance, in his haste to trample God's servants, he missed one — Obadiah!  

            Interestingly enough, Obadiah was the manager of Ahab's own house.  For three years, Obadiah had been hiding 100 prophets of God.  For three years, Obadiah risked his life smuggling food to these men who lived in two secluded caves.  Obadiah was the perfect person for such a task.  As manager of Ahab's house, he had access to food and other resources to keep these hunted prophets alive. Sneaking around and smuggling food to these saintly servants of God wasn't easy.  Midnight runs, always looking over his shoulder, wondering who knew where he was going—this would put gray hairs on anyone's head.  Obadiah knew, however, that it was worth the effort.  Even though he was risking his life and the lives of his family, he would not sit idly by and let evil win.

        While many Christians have never heard of Obadiah, they have heard of Elijah and how he fought the idol worship that Ahab instigated. When Elijah cleansed the land of this false religion someone would need to step in and help lead Israel back to God.  The cancer of Ahab's false religion would not succeed if Obadiah had a say.  He could not change the King, but he would make a difference.  As Elijah called the people to repentance it would be the prophets (the ones Obadiah saved) who would lead the coming reformation.

        Today the church needs more servants of God like Obadiah.  We live in dark times and difficult decisions are all around us.  We must decide to make a difference for God as Obadiah did.  We all have areas of influence.  We all have people we can invite to church.  We all have friends, family and neighbors who need to hear the Gospel.  We all can pray for our leaders.  We can all study the Bible and be stronger Christians.  We all have talents, that if used, will make Fleming Garden Christian Church a stronger Church.  God has placed us (individual Christians and the church body) in fields of opportunity.  We are wise to ask: How can we labor for God’s Kingdom right here?  How can we plant the seeds of the Gospel so souls might be saved?  How can we build up our church family and encourage one another?  As we serve God and implement His plans, it will require us to be like Obadiah.  We will have to be faithful and courageous servants of God.  Keep looking up!