To those who give out to serve and feed others: God is renewing your strength and highlighting your significance! Generations to come will be impacted by your obedience and service. Your sacrifices and even the risks you took may have been hidden from others, but they have been seen by God. And one day, the eternal nature of your legacy will be revealed.
“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” (Hebrews 6:10 NKJV)
An Unexpected Meeting
Before Elijah’s victory on Mount Carmel, the prophet had been hidden by God for several years after announcing that God was sending a drought. During that time, King Ahab had been on a mission to hunt out Elijah. He had searched high and low—he’d even sent out messengers into every kingdom and nation, but to no avail…until, in 1 Kings 18, we read about an unexpected meeting:
King Ahab and his palace administrator, Obadiah, split up to look for the last remaining grass in the kingdom, so they could pasture the horses. The drought in Israel was so bad the king had run out of food for his livestock. He faced having to kill some off, so this was his last effort to save them. Meanwhile, God had directed Elijah, “…’Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain…'” (1 Kings 18:1).
Divine Appointments in Unusual Moments
This is a reminder that you will have divine appointments in unusual moments, just like when Obadiah and Elijah intersected paths!
“Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, ‘Is that you, my lord Elijah?’ And he answered him, ‘It is I. Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.”‘” (1 Kings 18:7-8) (Photo via Piqsels)
Obadiah needed a lot of reassurance that Elijah was going to follow through and present himself to Ahab! For he was risking his life, and much more was at stake than Elijah was even aware of.
Your Legacy Is Powerful
Obadiah reported to Elijah that when Jezebel was murdering God’s prophets, he secretly went behind the king’s back to rescue them. He hid 100 prophets in two caves, and supplied them with bread and water from the palace!
Obadiah’s story reminds us of this yet again—that even while serving within an ungodly government or system, a servant of God can stand for righteousness. If you identify with this, know that you are a valuable member of God’s Kingdom team! You are divinely positioned and your legacy is powerful.
Instruments of Provision: The Partnership of Obadiah and Elijah
Elijah assured Obadiah as they parted ways: “…’As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today'” (1 Kings 18:15). And he did.
It was a fleeting encounter, and highlights an unusual Kingdom partnership! Elijah was a vessel of God’s judgment on Ahab, Jezebel, and their counterfeit prophets, while Obadiah was a vessel of God’s mercy to the true prophets. He sheltered, fed, and nurtured them! This is a reminder to us that God will always look after His own, and sometimes He will raise up people to be His instruments of provision. But if no one is available, your Father still has His ways to provide for you. For while God was using Obadiah to provide food for prophets, He was also sending bread and meat to the prophet Elijah via a raven!
The Legacy of Obadiah
In spite of Elijah being certain that he was alone as God’s prophet, there was Obadiah who was, unbeknownst to Elijah, rescuing and serving many prophets. It’s like a song that Elijah continually sings—”I am alone” (see 1 Kings 18:22; 1 Kings 19:10, 14). (Photo via Piqsels)
We know Elijah’s perspective was distorted because God told him, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).
Even though we don’t see Obadiah again, his legacy is there, sitting in the background. We read later, in 1 Kings 20:13, that “a prophet approached Ahab”—an unnamed prophet! Where did he come from?
A Generation Lived to Declare God’s Word
We discover that a generation of prophets lived to declare God’s word. Think about it—a body of prophets existed when Elijah passed on.
“Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know; keep silent!'” (2 Kings 2:3 NKJV)
Is it not possible, or likely, that some of them were there because a man named Obadiah worshiped God and loved His prophets? Obadiah fed the prophets and, later, Elisha led the prophets.
A Prophetic Revival
We see, then, in Elisha’s day, there was a school of prophets—a company of prophets. They were out in the open and their group was growing. In 2 Kings 6:1, they essentially said, “We need more room!” You could say that was a prophetic revival…one that was only made possible because of those who had faith in the previous generation. Among them was Elijah and Obadiah. We will see such a prophetic revival in our own day.
Obadiah’s story is a reminder that you may have no idea the fruit that exists because of your faithfulness and obedience, but God sees, and Heaven rejoices. God is rewarding your hidden work.
Obadiah is an unsung hero of the Bible. Maybe today you feel unsung, or unseen, but God is singing over you; the fruit of your service will be eternal.
Helen Calder
Enliven Ministries
Email: helen@enlivenpublishing.com
Website: www.enlivenpublishing.com
Helen Calder is a prophetic minister and writer, and founder of Enliven Ministries, in the David McCracken Ministries family. Helen has a unique gift of equipping in the areas of prophetic ministry, discernment and prayer. She is known for Enliven Blog, an online prophetic training and mentoring resource that reaches thousands of people globally. Helen and Malcolm have been married for 37 years and are at home in Planetshakers Church, Melbourne, Australia.