If you find that your work puts you in the middle of difficult ethical decisions, imagine how that was for Obadiah as he was the right-hand man of this extraordinarily wicked king, and yet God had placed him there. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. Colin, I think we need some context here. Who was Obadiah? One of the lesser-known characters of the Old Testament. He’s only referred to, I think, in this one place in the story of Elijah, but here was this godly man who had the extraordinary work of serving in the court of King Ahab, the worst king who had ever been up to his time in the entire history of Israel. Talk about a typical work environment. That’s about as dark, as violent, and as difficult as it could possibly be. But God had a person who honoured him right there in what seemed to be the darkest place. So I think that this lesser-known character in the Bible is a huge encouragement for every person who feels as a Christian that you’ve been placed in a really tough circumstance. You’re in a dark place. You’re in a place where it’s not easy for a Christian to be. You might even wonder, is this a place where a Christian should be at all? And I’m sure Obadiah must have asked that question. You’re going to find encouragement from the example of this guy, and if you’ve not heard of him before, he’s going to become one of your favourite characters in the Old Testament. Well, we’re going to be looking at the first book of Kings, chapter 18. As we begin the message, your work matters more than you think. Here’s Colin. God has his people in some very surprising places. It’s one of the things we’re going to learn from the Scriptures today. Actually, we’ve seen it already, although we’ve not drawn attention to it, in the story of the widow of Zarephath. You remember God sent Elijah to this lady who must have seemed the most unlikely person to help him. After all, she had no resources of her own, only a willingness to trust God and to walk in obedience. But even more surprising was that she was a widow in Zarephath. And I want just to draw your attention to that today. Zarephath was in Sidon, and if you check back in chapter 16 and verse 31, guess who came from Sidon? Jezebel, the woman who was at the very heart of importing Baal worship into Israel. Now, today we meet another servant of God in an equally unlikely place. His name is Obadiah. We have not met this character before. It’s the first time he appears in the story. And we find out in verse 3 that he serves as no less than the chief of staff to King Ahab himself. Look at verse 3. Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. We would call that chief of staff. Now, Obadiah, we’re told, verse 3, feared the Lord greatly. Verse 12 fills out the picture where Obadiah tells Elijah, I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth. So here is a godly man, and he’s in the most extraordinary place. He is in the palace, and he is right next to Ahab. And in a country that is being swept by idolatry that is coming out of the palace, whoever would have imagined that a godly person would be right next to the king from whom it was coming? Now, remember that Ahab did more evil in the sight of the Lord than any of the kings who came before him. We saw that back in chapter 16 and verse 30. Now we’re being told in verse 4 of our chapter today that Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. What that means is simply this, that Jezebel launched a campaign of persecution and terror against those who spoke the word of God publicly. The campaign was being run right out of the palace. So imagine the darkness of this palace that is dominated and ruled by an evil king and by a wicked queen. This is the capital of darkness. But right in the middle of it, God has placed a man who fears the Lord greatly, and his name is Obadiah. Now here’s where we’re going with the message today. My aim is very simple. It is to encourage every Christian who has been placed by God in a dark place. That’s the aim today. The Bible speaks to every circumstance of life, and the testimony of Obadiah, as a person who was thrust into the difficulties of the political realm, speaks powerfully into our lives today. If you have a difficult boss, imagine what it would be like working for Ahab. Just think about that. If you find that your work puts you in the middle of difficult ethical decisions, imagine how that was for Obadiah as he was the right-hand man of this extraordinarily wicked king, and yet God had placed him there. So I want us to think about it because it speaks right into our lives today. I’ve never preached in my life on this passage before. It’s so often skipped over when we come to the story of Elijah, but I think that it may prove in the kindness of God perhaps to be just a word that many of us need by way of encouragement today. So let’s begin here by looking at where God placed him and the sheer difficulty of his calling. It is a remarkable thing throughout the Bible that for the purposes of his grace, God often finds a way to put people who honor him quietly into places of very high influence indeed. Think about Joseph, and he’s at the right hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. What an uncomfortable place that must have been for anyone who was a believer. But God has him there, and through his presence there, food is provided for the family of God. Think about Esther. There she is in the court of King Ahasuerus. And can you imagine the pressures that were on this godly woman in the position that she was in in the king’s court, and yet through her ministry in that most difficult of all situations, a whole holocaust of the people of God is avoided. Think of Daniel, and how God puts him at the center of the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Can you imagine how difficult that must have been for Daniel? And we read some stories about how difficult it was, but it was all in the purpose of God. If you roll on into the New Testament, we’re told about a woman called Joanna. She was the wife of Chusa. That’s Luke chapter 8 and verse 3. Chusa was Herod’s household manager. And this woman, Joanna, was one of the women who went to the tomb on Easter morning. She was a woman who loved Christ and was devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. But there she is, and she’s living in Herod’s palace. I mean, that’s the palace where they brought the head of John the Baptist on a plate at the end of a wild party. Can you imagine how difficult it is for someone who loves Christ to find a way of being in an environment as dark as that? But God had her there, and her husband’s work was there. And if you roll forward in the New Testament, one more example, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 22. I wonder if you’ve ever noticed this. Paul says, the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household. So, quite early on in the New Testament story, there are Christians who are in Caesar’s household in Rome. The very highest level of the Roman Empire. And can you imagine how difficult that is for a Christian believer to be in the home, the household of Caesar, who is being worshipped as God by so many? So, there were Christians at the very highest level. How did these people get into these positions? Well, they were clearly highly gifted people. They were clearly people of integrity, and I guess that was why those who employed them trusted them. And God clearly gave them favor in the eyes of the leaders who had hired them at the highest levels of society. So, I’m wanting to remind you something that we do not often think about. That God places his people in surprising spheres of influence, and he does it for surprising purposes of grace. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, Your work matters more than you think. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, you can always catch up or go back and listen again on our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk. There you can download any of our previous messages completely free. And you can also find us as the Open the Bible podcast. That’s available on your favorite podcast platform, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google and many others. Just search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe for regular updates. Open the Bible is able to remain on this station and on the Internet and as podcasts because of our listeners’ generosity. If that’s something you feel you’d like to do, we would very much appreciate a regular donation to the work of Open the Bible. And this month, if you are able to set up a new monthly donation of five pounds or more, as a free gift, we’d like to send you a copy of the book, The Fight, by John White. Colin will be talking a little bit more about this after the message. Now let’s get back to the message, Your Work Matters More Than You Think. We’re in the first book of Kings, chapter 18. Here’s Colin. God places his people in surprising spheres of influence and he does it for surprising purposes of grace. Now Obadiah fits exactly into this storyline. Remember that the king, any king of Israel’s first calling was to fear the Lord. The king of Israel was to write out a copy of the scriptures for himself as his first act so that he would fear the Lord. Ahab had nothing to do with that. He did not fear the Lord. So what did God do? God placed a man right next to him who did. You see the surprising kindness of God here. Now many of you will relate immediately to this man Obadiah who loved the Lord, but lived and worked in a place that must often have torn him apart. Maybe you are serving a company where many things make you deeply uncomfortable. Sometimes you say, well now I’m a Christian. Should I even be working here? And how long can I go on working for these people? And here’s the problem. And I speak here especially to those who are younger. If you are looking today for a career in which you will not experience conflicts of conscience, you will have a very limited choice indeed. Because that sphere is getting narrower and narrower and narrower. You just think across the professions. Here’s a Christian teacher and she’s saying, how can I work with this godless curriculum? Here’s a Christian pharmacist and she’s saying, how can I serve these pills over the counter? Here’s a Christian lawyer and he’s saying, how can I in good conscience defend this particular client? Here’s a Christian banker and he’s asking, how can I in all conscience invest in this company? Here is a Christian politician and she is asking, can I support this compromise? The list goes on and on and on. It’s the real world in which Christians live. And many of you face intense pressures in your career. You say to yourself, sometimes when you’re lying in your bed at night, should I even be doing this? Is it possible for a Christian to pursue a secular calling in this world that is increasingly hostile to everything that I hold dear? Can I stay or should I go? And there will be very few people who are not able to identify the reality and the painfulness of these questions that occur many times. And maybe you’ve said this. Maybe you’ve said, oh, I know what I should do. Maybe I should get a job in ministry. Maybe I should become a pastor. Maybe I should become a missionary. Maybe I should go far away. Maybe I should work for a nice Christian organization and then I wouldn’t have to deal with all these nasty pressures. And the darker the world becomes, friends, the greater the pressure on Christians to withdraw. That’s the pressure. Because it’s not easy to be in Obadiah’s shoes. So this is a huge issue that this man who is brought before us in the Scripture today speaks to us about. Obadiah’s career as, imagine it, friends, Ahab’s chief of staff. How difficult is that? How careful do you have to be with what you say in that environment? And it is of huge importance for every Christian who struggles with these questions. And we’re learning from him straight away that God places his people in every sphere and in every level of life. And I want to encourage younger folks as you’re thinking about a choice of career and how can you be most useful to your God. Don’t shy away from spheres of influence simply because they will be difficult. We need Christians who will be lights in the darkest places across every profession. And this is the calling of God. Friends, over these last weeks we’ve been asking this question that Dr. Jim Packer has framed so helpfully. This question, what is the best that I can do for my God? What is the best that I can do for my God? Great question for every Christian to keep asking. And I want you to notice this, that God placed Obadiah in a sphere of influence that was extremely difficult in the palace of Ahab himself. We know from verse four, if you look there, that there were at least a hundred men who had been called to be preachers of the word of God. A hundred preachers. But there’s only one man who’s at the elbow of Ahab and that was Obadiah. And so you ask, what is the best that Obadiah can do for his God? It is a no-brainer. The best that Obadiah can do for his God is not to abandon his job and go and become the hundred and first preacher. The best thing that Obadiah can do for his God is to persevere in the high-pressure, difficult, political position in which he finds himself and it must often have torn him apart. And I want to give you that encouragement, that if you are in a place of difficulty, you are not there by accident, you are there by the design of God. And we need encouragement for Obadiah’s very much today. Think how much would be lost if Obadiah comes out of the palace. Who replaces him? There’s a uniqueness about his position and it’s of huge importance. So we’ve looked just briefly at where God placed him and the difficulty of his calling that must be very obvious just as we think about it. Let’s look secondly at how God used him and the distinctness of his calling. See verse four, from his position of influence, Obadiah had been able to do a great deal of good. Verse four, 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 with water. He could not possibly have been able to do that apart from information that presumably he gleaned from his position in the palace. And I want you to think about the risk that was involved in that. Here’s Jezebel actively killing the prophets. And right under her own roof, her husband’s chief of staff is hiding them in caves. It’s marvelous. Marvelous. And think not only of the risk but think of the cost. We’re told here that he supplied food to a hundred missionaries out of his own pocket. That’s a remarkable thing. Elijah could never have done that. So, 1 Kings and chapter 18, God brings these two men together. Elijah, who we’re already familiar with, and Obadiah, who we’ve just begun to get to know. It’s the third year of the drought and the search for the water is now desperate. Verse five, Ahab says to his right-hand man Obadiah, well, let’s go through the land. Let’s try and find the springs of water and let’s look at the valleys. Perhaps we’ll find some grass, perhaps we’ll be able to save the horses. Very interesting, he’s worried about the horses. Of course, they were key to his national defense. There have been excavations in a town of Megiddo that show huge stables that go back to the time of Ahab. He had them built because horses, chariots, that was his national defense. And it tells you something about the character of Ahab that after three years of drought, this man is not caring about the people, but he’s caring about national defense and about horses. And if there’s any water, we want the water to go there. Quite extraordinary. So, Ahab, verse six, and Obadiah, they divide the land between them. Ahab goes one way, Obadiah goes the other. They’re looking for some place where there’ll at least be some green grass, try and save the horses. Verse seven, and as Obadiah was on his way, behold, Elijah met him. And now these two men, who both fear the Lord, both brothers in the faith, but living in completely different worlds, meet together. I expect, though we’re not told, that Obadiah, as the chief of staff, would have been present in the palace when Elijah, do you remember, right at the beginning, came up to Ahab and made his announcement that there would be no rain on the land. And so, it’s not surprising that he recognizes this man. But it is also quite clear from this story that Obadiah was completely horrified when he did. After all, Elijah is the most wanted man in Israel. Obadiah tells him, verse 10, there is no nation or kingdom where Ahab has not sent to seek you. And when Ahab sends his investigators out in the search for Elijah, and someone says he’s not here, then Ahab doesn’t just accept that, he makes them swear on oath. And now Obadiah has run right into Elijah, and he knows he’s going to have to go back to Ahab, and he wonders just what that is going to mean for him. It’s the last thing that he wanted. I don’t think that Elijah had much time for Obadiah either. And here’s why. Later in the story, chapter 19, verse 10, when Elijah gets discouraged, do you remember he says this? I, even I, only am left. I, even I, only am left. Which tells you what he thought about Obadiah. He wasn’t worth counting. Miserable compromiser working for the enemy. Taking a salary and a fat one at that out of the palace. So here are two men. Brothers in the faith. But living in different worlds. With different temperaments. And with very different callings. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and the message, Your Work Matters More Than You Think. And it’s part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And if you ever miss one of our messages, you can always go back and listen again, or catch up, or go back and listen to earlier broadcasts on our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk. Open the Bible relies on its listeners to keep this programme on the radio and on the internet. People like you. This month, if you’re able to commit to a new regular monthly donation of five pounds or more, we would like to thank you by sending a copy of John White’s book, The Fight. Colin, who is this book written for? Well, it’s for every Christian who wants to grow. And that has to be every Christian. I mean, it’s every one of us. This is just a practical handbook on how to grow in the Christian life. It has been helpful to me over many years. I first read it as a young Christian when I was a student in college. It’s still valuable for me today. John White just goes through some of the basics of the Christian life. How to pray, how to grow in holiness, how to seek the guidance and the will of God. Very practical, laid out very clearly and drawn wonderfully from his deep understanding of Scripture. It’s written in a compelling manner. And so, if you’re looking for something that will help you grow in the Christian life or something that you could give to someone who needs to grow in the Christian life, this is a really helpful, practical, accessible and biblical handbook. And The Fight has stood the years of time. And I’m just delighted that there is a new edition available now that we’re able to make available to all of our listeners. So, this book, The Fight, is our gift to you this month if you’re able to start a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of £5 per month or more. You can find details on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick. Thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join us again soon. You’ve been called to a ministry of influence. You work on the inside using your God-given position to influence others for Christ. Find out what God would say to you next time on Open the Bible.