A hesitant hero

Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord… 1 Kings 18:3

He’s an interesting man is Obadiah.

He’s not to be confused with the prophet of that name, who appears towards the end of the Old Testament. No, he appears here in 1 Kings 18:1-16, in the story of Elijah: just sixteen verses, and we never meet him again. But he has an important part to play.

What do we know about him?

First, he is a true worshipper of God - a “devout believer in the Lord” (verse 3), someone who has “worshipped the Lord since my youth” (verse 12).

Second, somehow he has risen to a high position in society: he is King Ahab’s “palace administrator” (verse 3).

Third, his devotion to God isn’t just words. Under King Ahab and especially his wife Jezebel, people faithful to God have been persecuted; many of Elijah’s fellow-prophets have been killed (verse 4). Obadiah has taken an initiative here, one that could easily have cost him his job and even his life: he has hidden one hundred true prophets in safety, and provided for their needs (verses 4 and 13). He is no armchair believer!

Fourth, he is a man of very natural, human feelings, not least plain fear.

Israel is suffering from a prolonged drought and famine, and King Ahab, much as he detests God’s servant Elijah, knows how much he depends on him. But Elijah is playing hard-to-find, and when Obadiah happens to run into him (verse 7) and is told to report to Ahab that he is on the scene again, he is by no means keen. “What are you trying to do to me?” he asks. “Kill me? I know just what will happen. I’ll tell the king that you’re on your way – and you’ll do another of your disappearing acts. And I’ll end up dead” (that’s the essence of verses 9-14).

If Obadiah is a hero – which I think he is – he’s a not-very-heroic hero!

And it’s just that that makes him, to me at least, an attractive character.

You could say that while Elijah is a bit of a spiritual firebrand – severe, uncompromising, prepared to look even the king right in the eye and tell him what’s what – Obadiah is altogether less high-profile, keeping his head down as much as possible and doing what he can but doing it as discreetly as he can.

The point is that God needs both his firebrands and his – what shall I call them? – his steady-eddies. Elijah dazzles us (though, of course, even he is heading for a spectacular collapse in chapter 19), Obadiah reassures us. But both play a vital part in the unfolding of God’s purposes in hard times.

You might ask what Obadiah was doing working for wicked King Ahab anyway. And the answer might be that he didn’t have a lot of choice; if the king says “Right, I want you as my top administrator” it can’t be easy to say “No, thanks”, can it? (For a New Testament equivalent go to Erastus in Romans 16:23, whom Paul describes as “the city’s director of public works” – there were obviously Christians in high places in those early days. Is this a prompt to us to pray for Christians today in high places? – places, perhaps, like 10 Downing Street…)

I don’t know if the system is quite the same today, but I remember how some years ago in China churches were required to “register” with the authorities if they wanted to be allowed to exist. Some thought this involved an element of compromise, and there were churches that refused to do it. Others felt that in all conscience it was a sacrifice they were prepared to make. Were they traitors?

It seems incredible now, but in Nazi Germany many Christians decided that on balance Hitler was to be welcomed, or at least put up with. Were they traitors? (Don’t let’s say Yes too enthusiastically – it could have been us.)

I was reading yesterday about Richard Wurmbrandt, the Romanian pastor who suffered unspeakable things under communist rule back in the fifties and sixties: intense torture, years of solitary confinement, you name it. A truly wonderful man; I could only admire him. Then I got to know another Romanian pastor, a beautiful Christian man. He spoke very graciously about Wurmbrandt, but he obviously had reservations about certain aspects of his approach. Who was right?

Thank God that we don’t have to do the judging! – indeed, that we are forbidden to. Elijah and Obadiah were, perhaps, chalk and cheese; but both were instruments in God’s hands.

God’s church needs all types of people – outgoing and introspective, confident and withdrawn, brave and hesitant, strong and weak.

Of course, out-and-out error and compromise need to be challenged. But ultimately all that matters is that like Obadiah all of us should be “devout believers in the Lord” - with everything that that implies.

Is that you? Is it me?

Father, thank you for the example of unsung heroes like Obadiah. Please help me to learn from it. Amen.