1 Kings 18:1-6 – The challenge to serve God boldly

So far God had used Elijah to perform two miracles for the widow of Zarephath during the season of drought.  Now almost three years had elapsed, and not a drop of rain had fallen on Samaria in this duration. First Kings 18: 2 revealed that the famine was severe in Samaria and God was about to send rain upon the land. So He told Elijah to show himself to Ahab. Before Elijah could meet Ahab, 1 Kings 18:3 introduced us to Obadiah, a man who was said to greatly fear the Lord. We are told that he was in charge of Ahab’s household.

Here in this passage, Obadiah was caught in a dilemma. Though he was a God-fearing man, he was serving a wicked king. When Jezebel was putting the prophets of God to death, he bravely shielded a hundred prophets of God from her. Obadiah took them and hid them by fifties in a cave and provided water and bread for them. Verse 5 said that as the drought worsened, to keep his horses, mules, and herd of cattle alive, Ahab sent him out to search for places where water could be found. Between Ahab and him, they divided the area that each should go and survey. Obadiah is in a tough position. He desires to serve the Lord, yet must serve Ahab as well. Ahab sends him to find pasture during the worsening drought, but he also knew that it was on the account of Ahab’s sin that drought came upon Israel. Obadiah lived his life in two worlds and had a hard time balancing his roles. 

In reading these six verses, some would judge Obadiah critically wondering why a God-fearing man would want to serve a wicked king. But he should be applauded for daring to risk his life to preserve the prophets of God from Jezebel, the wicked queen. We all live in a secular society and many superiors we serve in our workplaces are unbelievers too. We may also be called to juggle between obeying God and doing something contradictory to Christian morals encouraged by our bosses. What would we do under such circumstances? Would we stand on our Christian principles and help other believers in their witness? To live uncompromisingly for the Lord, we need the wisdom of God. Each one of us must weigh the job we are called to do, factoring God in all our decisions. Be prepared to take some risks to ensure that we don’t act compromisingly. Like it or not, our faith in God is often put under severe testing. In such times, whose side would we be standing on? Will we be willing to stand with other believers and do all we can to preserve their witness at the risk of our own position?  Seek to honor God in all that we do!