Tues 21st July – 1 Kings 18:10-14

Tues 21^st July  –   Read 1 Kings 18:10-14

V10:  We learn that Ahab has searched for Elijah – no doubt blaming him for the drought – in all the neighbouring kingdoms. God has kept His servant from Ahab’s anger until this moment – perhaps using the very fact that the prophet had been concealed in the very land where Jezebel’s father ruled, where surely he would least have expected to find the prophet and the search may have been no more than nominal.

V11-12:  So Obadiah again expresses his fear that the Lord will take Elijah away and leave Obadiah himself to face Ahab’s fury. He pleads his faith in God from his childhood. Again, though he is a true believer, his fear surely confirms that he has kept his faith secret, and shows his lack of anticipation or confidence in God’s sovereign purposes.

V13:  He says again how he has hidden and protected 100 of the Lord’s servants, offering this as a reason why he should not be put at risk of Ahab’s anger. Though not wishing to be too hard on him – how would we have fared in Ahab’s court? – it is not only a limited faith, but a faulty view of how we stand in a right relationship with God which offers his own works as a reason for God to show him mercy – but are we completely free of thinking at times like this? ( ” I do so much in God’s service – surely He must think well of me for this?” )

V14:  As poor Obadiah reiterates his fears, we need to remember the Lord’s own words in Matthew 10:28.