Being a "Lesser-Known" in a Fame-Frenzied World

Living beside a brook while being fed from the ravens' mouths, challenging the prophets of Baal to see whose god would light the altar of sacrifice with heavenly fire, running at super-human speed ahead of Ahab's chariot down Mt. Carmel to beat the coming rain--these are the stories of Elijah that I cut my teeth on.  Next week, I'll begin passing down these same stories to my four-year-old Sunday School class as I've done for over a decade.

Yet, somehow, in all those times of listening, reading, and teaching the books of 1 & 2 Kings, I've continuously skipped over an almost invisible character named Obadiah.  The problem is that Elijah's character has such a commanding stage presence, the supporting "cast" members, like Obadiah, just aren't memorable.

Even the prophet Elijah discounted Obadiah's dedication and service to the Lord as not being worth remembering.  He complained, "I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left" (1 Kin. 18:22).

Last week, we examined Obadiah's position within Ahab's palace and how he remained silent about his commitment to the Lord, all while placing his life in danger as he hid/fed/watered 100 prophets from the evil king and his equally wicked bride.

There's something more, though, that we can learn from Obadiah, and it has everything to do with our passing right over him, with our not remembering his name or even that he even participated in the storyline.

Obadiah is an example of the many lesser-known persons in Scripture.  He shows up in only six verses of one chapter and only then as the reluctant liaison between Elijah and King Ahab. 

At first, he is introduced as: "a devout believer in the Lord. 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" (1 Kin. 18:3-4).

Then, he plays his part in the plot.  As Obadiah and King Ahab are out looking for grass for their livestock, "Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, 'Is it really you, my lord Elijah?'” (1 Kin. 18:7).  Here he is, just walking along the hillside, and there he meets Israel's most wanted fugitive who calmly asks him to go announce his presence to Ahab.

Knowing Elijah's supernatural ability to elude King Ahab's troops for several years, Obadiah is more than a little reluctant.  In fact, he accuses Elijah of sending him on a suicide mission before adding, " I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 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" (1 Kin. 18:12-13).

In the end, Obadiah goes, finds, and tells Ahab who then comes to Elijah.

These few verses provide everything we know of Obadiah's character and activities.  

First, he is a "devout believer."  Verse 12 defines this characteristic further, explaining that Obadiah's devotion to the Lord was life-long, "since his youth."  This devotion was obviously tested and found to be true, as twice we are told Obadiah valued his life less than that of the hundred prophets he was protecting in caves. 

Next, verse 7 shows that Obadiah bowed when he met Elijah, an action that shows his reverence for a man of God, which, in turn, demonstrates his own true reverence for God.  


And that's it.  If you're a journalist, you're probably disappointed at this point.  That's all!?

Well, of course not.  Obadiah's life was surely full of more acts of service to the Lord...just maybe nothing big enough to be front page news like "Obadiah Brings In Troubler of Israel!" or "Hiding a Hundred in the Hills."

But I think that's the point of including him and other equally obscure characters in scripture.  No, it's not to make games like Bible Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy a challenge.  It's to show us how even the lesser-known persons are important to God's kingdom....how God knows even us lesser-known persons by name.

Perhaps you once had a vision of all the magnificent things you could do for the Lord.  Maybe you envisioned yourself as a famous missionary living life halfway around the globe; as an oft-published Christian author whose words brought many to saving faith in Jesus; or an uber-successful speaker teaching standing-room-only Bible studies.  

As the years have passed, none of those dreams has become reality.  Instead, you're still living on obscurity, devoutly serving Jesus.  Perhaps you're the silent partner working in the shadows of some larger than life personality...and no one knows your name.

I understand the feeling.  Yet, I also know HE knows our names and that when we feel we're not making a big difference, we must reconcile in our hearts the truth of our significance in the kingdom of God.   

Big to God might only look like little to us. 

When to Speak and When to Be Silent

What if openly sharing the plan of salvation with your co-workers would almost certainly result in your termination from that job?  What if sharing the gospel each time you come together causes friends and family to avoid your company completely?  What if you live in a country where the simple act of proclaiming your Christianity will most surely result in your execution?

Is that what Christ asks us to do, this in-your-face type of evangelism?  Is it more effective to share the Word of God those few times? To proclaim one's allegiance to Christ? And then have no more chances to minister to that lost person?  Or is it better to live your life as a witness for Christ, naturally weaving Christ into your conversation and lifestyle that you demonstrate before them but without being confrontational about the question of their lost soul?  

Simply put, what style of witness gives us the most influence for Christ? Bring Him the most glory?

These are difficult questions to answer.  I've heard good, honest debates on both sides.  I've listened to good-hearted Christians criticize other Christians for not fulfilling their definition of what a Christian should be, do, say.  And in all honesty, I've felt the same way about other Christians at times, too, wondering how they could stay silent if Christ were really their Lord.

Yet, the more I read in Scripture and the further I go on my own journey with the Lord, I see that there is a time and a place for everything--for speaking, for being silent, for confronting in love, for biting my tongue...and that I must not judge others who choose silence and behind the scenes influence for Christ. 

Jesus told His disciples, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).  He also said, "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven" (Matt. 10:32-33).  

The conclusion one can draw from these verses is that Christians must live unashamed of the gospel, openly being a witness for Christ. In other words, others should see Jesus in me, should know I am different even if they're not sure what's different.  The definition of being a "witness," though, varies, especially when considering how "in your face" should one be when sharing the gospel?   
 
As I read through the prophets of the Old Testament and even through Jesus' own words, I'm noting how their witness changed depending on the situation. 

1 Kings tells of a man who followed the Lord in secret.  Scripture says, "Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 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" (1 Kin. 18:2-4).

Scripture refers to Obadiah as a "devout believer."  That's saying something right there.  Yet, while one may associate the word "devout" with someone who prays publicly at the window like Daniel, witnesses on the street corners like Paul, or points fingers at the sin of the unrighteous like the Prophet Elijah, this man's devotion to the Lord was a secret.  

Obadiah was in a place of authority in evil King Ahab's palace.  He was quite influential in the kingdom.  Had Ahab or his evil wife Jezebel caught wind of Obadiah's true allegiance, it is likely that Obadiah would have lost his life in addition to losing his position. 

Because of this position of influence, this "devout" man did not confront King Ahab about his sin.  He did not criticize the king for trying to kill all the Lord's prophets.  He simply worked in secret.  In a way, he infiltrated the enemy's camp for the Lord and so he could save the lives of a hundred of the Lord's prophets.

Even with his mouth not speaking of his devout beliefs, he was a witness for the Lord.  We will never know if he advised Ahab towards righteousness even if Ahab ignored such efforts.  What we do know is that Obadiah's actions to save those 100 prophets were a demonstration of his devout faith in God and that this demonstration made his very existence fraught with danger. 

Constantly supplying 100 prophets with enough food and water to sustain them in the desert would not have been an easy task.   First there was the problem of gathering the food and water.  Simply procuring that many supplies in a nation wracked by famine must have been almost impossible.  There just wasn't food or water available for that many people to be fed, especially over an extended period of time--months and months.  It makes me wonder if Obadiah stole from Ahab's own household to provide the needed sustenance, making this ministry all the more dangerous.  

Whatever method God used to provide daily bread for his chosen prophets, Obadiah was the secret hand God used to fulfill His will for His glory. 
 
Then, there was the problem of delivering the food and water to the prophets.  Surely, Ahab had spies everywhere.  Everyone in the kingdom must have been under suspicion of helping Elijah, especially since Scripture speaks directly of Ahab's man hunt for the prophet. 

Imagine months and months of providing daily bread and water for one hundred people.  Imagine the daily fear of being caught.  This was Obadiah's secret ministry for the Lord.

The Prophet Elijah, though, obviously didn't think too much of Obadiah's commitment to the Lord.  Even after Elijah met Obadiah, he told the people of Israel, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left" (1 Kin. 18:22).  It seems Elijah also believed that if you are for God, everyone should know about it.

Pastor R. T. Kendall says, "There is a time to shout out our witness for Jesus, but also a time to protect our testimony by a discreet silence.  In other words, there are exceptions to the biblical principle of acknowledging Jesus Christ and showing openly that we are unashamed of Him" (p. 69).*


No, I don't think God gives examples such as these in Scripture to give us a license to close our mouths and shirk our responsibility to share the gospel with those around us.  Sharing the gospel is important.  I do, however, believe God shows us examples like Obadiah's to demonstrate how we should be open to the Spirit's leading in our own lives and how we should avoid judging others whose witness looks different from out own.

Let us not be militant in our belief that the way we witness is how all should witness for the Lord or even that the way we witness is how we should witness for the Lord at all times and in all circumstances.  



*Kendall, R. T.  These are the Days of Elijah.  Bloomington: Chosen P, 2013.

How Your Life Affects Mine

It started five weeks ago,  an unignorable ache in husband's jaw after a routine dentist visit.  The dentist repeatedly assured him this ache was normal after a new crown.  Still, he knew in his gut that something was wrong.

Days passed as the throbbing steadily grew to where husband could feel each steady heartbeat pulse in his cheek.  After two weeks, he went to a specialist who easily identified the true problem. When filling another small cavity that same day, the dentist had drilled directly into a nerve, killing the tooth.  

One tiny nerve, invisible to the naked eye, was powerful enough to affect the entire body.  What's more, one tiny nerve didn't just affect my husband.  It drained our entire family, with the children not being able to play with daddy as they were wont to do and this wife having to pick up the slack when husband was too sick to help out around the house.

It never ceases to amaze me how something so small can have such a big impact.  An invisible grain of pollen settles inside my nose, and I have a full blown allergy attack that puts me to bed.  A rose thorn pierces a pin-sized hole in my child's finger, and the pain is enough to make her intolerably grumpy for the next few days.  Even something as simple as a half hour less sleep at night is enough to throw the body out of whack the next day.

The human body is a fine tuned machine and a fragile one at that.  The fact that it functions at all is a miracle.  One cog loses a spoke, and it is weakened, to affect one body that affects another body that affects an entire family...an entire world.

Paul makes a similar comment about the importance of all body parts functioning together, only he speaks not of the physical body but the corporate body of the church.  

Paul states, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ...For the body is not one member, but many.... But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it..... And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it"  (1 Cor. 12:12, 14, 18-23, 26).

Just as I tend to forget how each part of my body must be in perfect working order for the rest of my body to work as it should, I also forget the same about the body of Christ.

When someone is absent from worship service, when someone in the body is suffering with family issues, when someone in the body is physically ill--I have the tendency to think it doesn't affect me, personally.  Don't get me wrong.  I sympathize with their situations.  I pray for them.  I might even cry in sincere grief over the pain they're going through.  Yet, still, for the most part, I don't really realize the impact they have on me and me on them.  I look at it as their problem, as my problem. 

But according to Paul, I am dead wrong.


Each of these persons is a member of the body of Christ, just as I am.  Each person in the body is needed to work as it should to fulfill its kingdom purpose.  As Paul makes clear in the verses above, I can no more say "I have no need of you" to another believer in Christ than I can say to my feet, "I don't need you today."

Yet, I am guilty of thinking just that, of writing off immature believers, of unreliable believers...of thinking it's just easier to do the work without them.

What's worse, I forget that "if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it" (v. 26).

No wonder Christians are not having the impact in the world that they should.  We don't envision the body of Christ as we do our own physical bodies--composed of frail, individual parts; dependent on each body part to function at its greatest potential; impacting the rest of the body even when one part suffers, is righteous, sins, fails, or succeeds.

As a result, we're going out on the battle field blind with one arm in a sling and one leg amputated beneath the knee...and that's if we make it off the sidelines at all because we have too many body parts missing or because one body part is burnt out, exhausted because it is trying to do the job of two or more body parts.

I don't know the complete solution to make the church body function as the body Christ intends us to be.  But I do know it begins with each of us reaching out to those around us in the body.

We must seek out those who have fallen away.
We must minister to those who are in need.
We must disciple those who lack maturity in the faith.
And we must not allow our egos to convince us that we are more important than another part of the body. 



Image: Poor husband ready for his first root canal.

Would You Serve A God You Can't Tame?

When I was a child, I lived next door to my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Kimberly. It was like having a sister--Saturday morning omelets, trips back and forth between our houses, late night rounds of my uncle cheating at Monopoly, and too many sleepovers to count. Then, baby Allison was added to their family. Now, I would have two sisters to share everything with!

But, suddenly, our close-knit world was rocked when my aunt and uncle felt God calling them to be international missionaries. They then accepted that calling, leaving behind careers, family, and friends to become missionaries on the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean…and taking with them my two “sisters.”

After that, our families came together maybe once a year. We were still close, but it just wasn’t the same. Many years into their ministry, they rode out a very serious hurricane that destroyed much of the island. While their lives were spared, our church had to send a team to help repair/rebuild their home.

What kind of God asks His people to leave their family? Stable jobs? Country? What kind of God puts those same people who are obediently serving Him in the path of a killer storm?

Yahweh. The God of Moses, Abraham, and Isaac.

Scripture gives us several examples of God asking His people to give up everything to serve and obey Him. One such man was Ezekiel, a priest whom God called to prophecy to an exiled Israel: “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children…” (Ezekiel 2:3-4).

Ezekiel wasn’t a Jonah. He didn’t run the other way or ask God to send somebody else. Instead, even with God continuously reminding him that his prophesies wouldn’t result in Israel’s repentance or turning from its sin, Ezekiel was obedient in doing what the Lord asked of him.

And then in the midst of that obedience, God required Ezekiel to make yet another sacrifice, which would serve as a sign to a rebellious Israel of Jerusalem’s coming destruction: “And the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a blow; but you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come. Groan silently; make no mourning for the dead Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache and do not eat the bread of men.’ So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And in the morning I did as I was commanded” (Ezekiel 24:15-18).

What!? Did I read that right? God required Ezekiel to not only lose his beloved wife but to also not publically mourn her death? Yes. And Ezekiel obeyed.

How? Why?

Because Ezekiel knew the God he served. He knew of God's mercy and His judgment.  He also knew God’s kingdom agenda was more important than one man or one woman.

In our modern culture, I fear we are just the opposite--we don't really know the God we serve.

When we hit those passages in Scripture that are disconcerting, that depict a God who doesn't jive with the image in our head of the one we serve--that's when we attempt to tame God.

Sometimes, in our attempt to tame Him, we ignore the mystery.  We simply don't read those parts of Scripture we deem "inexplicable," confusing, or just too hard, such as the book of Revelation.  We believe the lie that only scholars have a chance of really understanding, so we lay persons shouldn't bother.  It's not a mystery if we refuse to accept it as such, so we stick our heads in the sand and stop up our ears.

Then, there are the times we take the mystery and try to nail it down on all four corners, to explain it all away with such conviction and certainty that we grow angry or defensive when anyone suggests our interpretation of Scripture could be incorrect.  Here, we reject the mystery and insist there can only be one interpretation, one spiritually-gleaned conclusion drawn from our reading of God's Word.  If you think differently, you obviously weren't led of the Spirit to your conclusion.

While some things are black and white in Scripture, there are too many that are not.  Brilliant scholars fall of both sides of several theological issues, which should warn us against this type of taming God.  When we attempt to explain everything away with such certainty and allow that certainty to be divisive in the family of God, we forget the words of the prophet Isaiah: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your  ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'"(Is. 55:8-9).

Other times, we tame God by refusing to read entire sections of the Bible because they "don't apply" to our modern society.  Using this logic, we excuse ourselves from trying to come to grips with a God who ordains murder, who condoned mass genocide of entire people groups.  In other words, we explain away any Old Testament characteristic of God that depicts anything other than a kind, good, merciful God such as Christ shows us in the New Testament.  And in doing so, we think we have such a good grasp on who God is that, at times, we believe we can even speak for Him, like we're best chums.  Yet, in truth, we haven't even begun to understand Him.

Although we may not like to think of God as one who requires such large sacrifices of his obedient servants, such as the earlier example of Ezekiel, that doesn’t mean we can ignore Scripture that tells us otherwise.  Although we may not be comfortable with what the Word says about who God is and what He has done throughout the course of history, we still must accept every part of who Scripture says God is...or not accept Him at all.

Likewise, although we may not understand every Scripture, that doesn't excuse us from not trying.  Yet, when we try, we must leave room for those who may draw different conclusions, for who knows if ten years from now, the Spirit may reveal that we were wrong all along.

God is and always will be a mystery to us.  If you're serving a God who can be graphed in black and white on a piece of paper, then you're not serving the God of the Bible.  Your God isn't big enough.

The God of The Bible is one who cannot be tamed.  He will not be watered-down.  He cannot be placed in a box.

He is The mystery of mysteries.

If we have Jehovah God all figured out, then we're not serving Him but a false God of our own making.

Expecting God To Repeat Himself

I like patterns.  It's my way of making sense of the chaos that is life.  There is the simple understanding of cause and effect, inductive reasoning that makes life smoother, such as knowing that if my children go to bed after 8 pm, there will be an afternoon meltdown the next day or that if I skip a single day of my daughter reading to me, the day after will be like pulling teeth with her sounding out words she flew through the day before.

Then, there are those patterns that require more observation, a stepping back and seeing the whole picture, mysteries that can leave me scratching my head for months until I finally crack the code. 

When attempting to understand the Word of God, I've learned how much can be understood simply by looking for patterns, which can only be accomplished fully by knowing the whole story.  Sometimes, that involves tracking a word's usage throughout the pages of the entire Old Testament, looking at historical context, taking the original audience's understanding into consideration, or simply looking at other parts of the specific book of the Bible. 

It's all part of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

Yet, too often, when I read a passage that reminds me of another similar passage I've read before, I make the mistake of automatically reading it with the same interpretation in mind.  While God often repeats Himself, sometimes, He also often does the unexpected, reminding us that even when we're at the top of our game, God is still a mystery at His core.

The prophet Elijah learned this lesson when running from Jezebel.  At the lowest point in his career, the Lord told him, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by" (1 Kin. 19:11).

Scripture records, "Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave" (1 Kings 19:11-13).

Most Sunday School children know this part of the story.  God was not in the wind.  He was not in the earthquake.  He was not in the fire.  God was merely in a still, small voice.

Elijah would have known Israel's history quite well, a history in which the children of Israel had seen God in the wind, in the earthquake, and in fire.  In fact, a simple glimpse at the Israelites' escape from Egypt showed God in all three.

When the Israelites were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea, Pharaoh's army nipping at their heels, God was in the wind that held back the waters so an entire nation could cross on dry land: "Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left" (Ex. 14:21-22).  

As they wandered into the desert and camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel beheld God in both earthquake and fire: "Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently" (Ex. 19:18).  That fire would go on to light up every night sky as they wandered in the desert for forty years until crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, a trek that all started with God appearing to Moses within a bush aflame.  And then, later, as Solomon dedicated the temple, fire would fall from heaven once more to light up the altar of sacrifice.

There was Biblical precedence for God being in all of the above.  What's more, Elijah, himself, had witnessed God in the wind and fire quite recently as he defeated the prophets of Baal atop Mt. Carmel (Ex. 18:38,45).

Yes, Elijah heard the wind and probably expected it to be the Lord.  He felt the earthquake and thought, surely this is the Lord.  And when the fire blazed, he must have expected this to be the Lord.

Yet, the Lord did not do the expected.

He came as He had never come before--in a still, small voice.  He came not in a display of power but in gentleness.

What's interesting is that Elijah, this man who loved and followed God with his whole heart--Elijah did not come out to meet God in the expected.  He waited and knew this was not the Lord.  Yet, He knew the Lord in this small voice even though there was not really precedence for the Lord appearing in such a manner.  Somehow, Elijah knew the Lord.

Pastor R. T. Kendall says, "When God repeats Himself it is easier to accept Him.  We love the familiar...The thing is, when something is repeated that was previously clearly the Lord's manifestation, most people assume hastily and uncritically, 'This is God showing up again.'...Jonathan Edwards taught us that the task of every generation is to discover the direction in which the Sovereign Redeemer is moving, then move in that direction.  It is easy to look for what has happened before" (Kendall 144).

Consider this statement and Elijah's experience in light of our Savior.  When Jesus came to earth in the wrappings of flesh, He did not come in the power of the wind, the earthquake, or fire.  He came in the gentleness of a sacrificial lamb.  Because of that, many missed His coming, for they were looking for God to appear in strength and power and refused to reevaluate their understanding of God and Scripture.

From these passages, we can take away two things. 

First, we must be cautious of boxing God in, expecting for Him to work or speak in always the same way He has done before.  God can and does do the unexpected. 

Secondly, we can be comforted.  Those who truly seek the Lord as did Elijah will know Him, even when He shows up in the most unexpected of ways. 

Worshipping With A Different Tribe

How do they dress?” I had asked my sister in law. Even though we coming to her and my brother’s home for vacation, a weekend stay-over meant we would be worshipping with them at their church. My concern wasn’t making three toddlers be quiet in church service; it was not sticking out like a roadside daisy in a well-manicured bed of hybrid tea roses.

I needn’t have worried.

Two pews in front of us sat a man with stiffly gelled hair slicked to one side, a few days’ stubble on his face. He was dressed in a faded red polo that stretched taught around his ample belly and well-worn khakis, the creases and seams fuzzy with frayed threads. By him sat an African American man dressed much the same, both of them obviously together, obviously not financially well off.

Several rows up sat a woman in red and black wool hat, another in designer leopard print heels. Intermixed throughout the congregation were splashes of color, people of Asian and Indian heritage. Behind us sat a woman who whipped out her cell phone to proudly show a picture of her newly adopted son from Korea.

This was a coming together of people from different walks of life, different backgrounds, yet all raising their voice in song to Christ who bound them together. I didn’t feel out of place. Instead, I felt like I was just one of God’s children assembled together as one to worship Him.

Although there are exceptions, in a Southern culture where most churches are divided mostly along racial lines, I sometimes feel I get such an inaccurate picture of what worship was intended to be…what worship one day will be.

I can’t help wondering about that first worship experience when the first group of exiles returned from captivity in Babylon.

The very first thing they did upon arrival was worship: “When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem…[and] buil[t] the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it" (Ezra 3:1-2).

Seventy years had passed. Many of those returning were born in captivity, had never worshipped in God’s holy city as one assembly with all God’s chosen people. Likely, they had never worshipped together as a group, period.

Many were surely quite poor; yet, we know some were wealthy since Ezra speaks of their building houses with panels of cedar like King Solomon did. So, at a minimum, the congregation of worshippers included those of disparate social classes.

Yet, were the worshippers even more varied? Perhaps word of Cyrus’ decree that the Jews could return home had spread rapidly to the surrounding countries, to Egypt, where many of the Israelites fled once conquered. Had these exiles also returned along with the ones from Babylon to help rebuild the temple foundation? Were they part of “the people” who assembled to worship?

And the ones who had been left behind, those considered so poor, so worthless that they were no threat to an enemy king—did they, too, join as one in worship with their returned brothers and sisters? Or had they all intermarried with foreigners, been drawn away by false gods at this point so that their worship was an abomination to God?

There’s a lot I don’t know about who joined together to worship Jehovah once this first wave of exiles returned home. It’s all conjecture.

But Revelation tells how it will be one day. John says, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’”(Rev. 7:9-10).

Rich, poor; healthy, sick; black, white, red, and all in between—we who serve Him will all gather together in true unity to worship Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.   

(Posting from the archives today, as we worshipped here in North Carolina with yet another tribe during a visit with my brother and sister in love.)

Odd Provisions: Ravens' Mouths & Foreign Widows

Imagine you're Elijah.  One moment, you're on the mountain top, receiving and delivering a message from the Lord to evil King Ahab, saying, "there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word" (1 Kin. 17:1).  

As time passes, though, you become the victim of your own prophecy.

When Elijah spoke those words declaring a moratorium on rain, he might as well have painted a bright red target on his back.  His words did not bring the desired repentance in the King.  Instead, they so angered King Ahab that Elijah became the most wanted man in all Israel.

God, though, would provide for Elijah and protect him.  Yet, it wouldn't be easy for Elijah.

First, the Lord sent Elijah to the Kerith Ravine and told him, "You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there" (1 Kin. 17:4).  Each morning and evening, the ravens brought bread and meat, and the brook provided sufficient water to drink.

While this may not sound too terrible to us, as an Israelite, Elijah must have wondered why God chose to provide for him in this manner, especially considering Scripture referred to such birds as unclean and detestable: "These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven"  (Lev. 11:13-14). 

As time passed, even this provision from unclean birds seemed insufficient, especially when Elijah's prophesy began to come true.  The rains stopped.  The land began to suffer.  Elijah's brook even dried up.

I wonder if Elijah thought his one corner of the country would be spared the drought and subsequent famine?  Or maybe that God would continually supply living water to this brook even when the water had dried up at its source.  Whether or not Elijah had anticipated going to sleep with a severely parched mouth and waking from dreams of water, we don't know.  What we do know is what Elijah did next--he waited on God to provide.  

Many of us would have prayed and asked God to spare us from the judgment passed on an entire nation when we, ourselves, were not guilty of X, Y, or Z.  But, Elijah didn't do that.  As Dr. R. T. Kendall says, "Elijah could not make himself the exception to the rule.  He would live under God's judgment along with the rest of the people of Israel. So rather than pray for rain, he waited on God to see what would be--yet again--the next step forward" (p. 46).

Again, God provided for Elijah.  And again, it was in a way that surely caused Elijah to scratch his head in wonder.  Scripture records the Lord telling Elijah, "Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food" (1 Kin. 17:9).

Zarephath was not a city in Israel.  Instead, this was in the territory of the Gentiles a hundred miles away from his present location.  What's worse, Zarephath was also suffering from the drought and famine such that the widow at first rejected Elijah's call for help, telling him she and her son were about to eat their last supper and then wait for death.

These details tell us that God's judgment can be far-reaching, that the righteous are sometimes called to suffer along with the unrighteous and that even when God is specifically passing judgment on one country, other countries may suffer as well.

But why Zarephath?  If it, too, were suffering from drought, why not send Elijah elsewhere where there was no drought?  Or, instead, if Elijah were required to be under the same judgment as the rest of his people, why ask him to make the harrowing trek across 100 miles of barren land?  Couldn't Elijah have done just as well with a closer, Jewish widow to help him?

Jesus spoke to these exact questions.  He explained, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon" (Luke 4:24-26).  

Jesus' Jewish audience was furious at His implication that God would offer salvation to the Gentile because the Jew had rejected it.  They even ran Him out of town.

Yet, this passage illuminates why God used the unclean raven and of the Gentile woman to provide for Elijah.  Both uncommon methods of provision were foreshadowings of things to come in God's kingdom, when He would make a way for both Jew and Gentile to enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the sacrifice of His beloved son on the cross.

In Christ, Paul said of unclean food (as was the raven), " I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean....For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:14,17).

Concerning Gentiles and their place in the Kingdom of God, Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile" (Rom 1:16).

To see this far back in history God's plan for me and you to be adopted into the Kingdom just goes to show there is no shadow of turning with our God.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 
 

Kendall, R. T.  These are the Days of Elijah.  Bloomington: Chosen P, 2013.