Slices
Prepare
Read Psalm 92:4,5. Ask God to help your thoughts to be in line with his thoughts.
Bible passage
Elijah and Obadiah
18 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.’ 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, ‘Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.’ 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognised him, bowed down to the ground, and said, ‘Is it really you, my lord Elijah?’
8 ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Go tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’
9 ‘What have I done wrong,’ asked Obadiah, ‘that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, “Elijah is here.” 12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshipped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, “Elijah is here.” He will kill me!’
15 Elijah said, ‘As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.’
Explore
A long time has passed since Elijah encountered the widow and her son (v 1). In line with God’s decree delivered by Elijah to King Ahab three years earlier (1 Kings 17:1), no rain has appeared and the severe famine continues. Things are getting desperate!
Once again, Elijah is obedient and responds immediately to God’s instructions (vs 1,2). In contrast, although Obadiah is described as ‘a devout believer in the Lord’, he is too fearful to obey Elijah (v 9). Despite his earlier defiance of wicked Jezebel (vs 13,14), Obadiah seems to have lost his courage as well as the ability to obey what God is telling him to do. Why do you think that might have happened?
Rather than rebuking Obadiah for his lack of trust in God, Elijah seems even more determined to be obedient (v 15). His unwavering faith means that he lives
up to his name, which means ‘Jehovah (the Lord) is God’.
But then Obadiah seems to change his mind and does as Elijah asks. In 1 Kings 18:16 we learn that he does meet Ahab and tells him about Elijah. The scene is set for God to show his power and might in the most spectacular way.
Respond
Praise God for his sovereignty. Even when situations seem bleak, and corrupt leaders are against God, we can trust him to be at work and take us by surprise!
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 4–6; 2 Corinthians 11
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for churches preparing to use the Kingdom Builders resource to run holiday clubs this summer. Pray that as they explore stories about Jesus and his kingdom from Matthew’s Gospel, many children will learn more about Jesus and come to trust him.
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