1 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, 4 and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” 6 So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.
7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” 8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” 9 And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. 11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ 12 And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. 13 Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; and he will kill me.” 15 And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.
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Our text today is often overlooked as it is sandwiched amongst a great number of miracles ranging from the ravens
serving as an ancient form of DoorDash at the Brook Cherith, to the endless buffet at the widow’s house in Zarephath, to the coming showdown on Mt. Carmel. And yet, we rush from Zarephath to Carmel at our peril if we do not pause and converse with Obadiah. We do not tarry in order to find the real “troubler of Israel,” rather we pause to hear a testimony of faithfulness in the dark. Ahab’s reign was one of unadulterated evil and the times were exceedingly dark. They grew darker when God called Elijah to announce a coming drought upon the land, a drought that lasted three and a half long years. It seems virtually impossible that in the midst of unrelenting, baking sunlight there could be darkness, but that is what abounded as terror in the form of Queen Jezebel, chased down and destroyed any and all who gave witness to the light of God, only added to the people’s misery. Yet, in the midst of such darkness let’s focus on the light.
You see, Obadiah is the embodiment of light in our text. Obadiah worshipped God and so when the lights of God, the prophets, were being put to death Obadiah went at great risk to his own life and hid 100 prophets in two caves and fed and watered them. Think about it for a moment, here’s Obadiah, during a time of dwindling resources of food and water,
taking enough to feed and water 100 souls. To be sure, someone had to question at some point why Obadiah needed so much food and water and yet, he faithfully persisted. He persisted in being light in the midst of ever increasing darkness. He persisted in nourishing and sustaining the lights of God hiding in caves so that when in God’s good time Ahab and
Jezebel’s reign of terror came to close, the light of God could shine ever brighter. Imagine the impact Obadiah had in the lives of those 100 prophets lives in years to come as they testified to God’s faithfulness to them through Obadiah’s faithful persistence.
Beloved, we are called to let our light shine in a dark world, to be the Obadiah of our times. We are called to persist in nourishing and sustaining the other lights of God amongst us that together we may shine brightly and when called upon push back the darkness just as Obadiah and the 100 prophets did. We must not rush to see the fire fall from the sky at Carmel, though awesome it may be, rather we have to tarry here in the dark and be a testimony of faithfulness as we shine brightly. We wait and we shine in the dark, that’s what Advent is all about.