If you’re not familiar with Obadiah, there is a brief glimpse of him interacting with Elijah.

I have heard messages in which Obadiah was criticized because he worked for the wicked king Ahab and his pagan wife, Jezebel. I’ve heard preachers claim that Obadiah’s place was with the suffering people of God, not staying in some cozy job… and other such criticisms.

This post is a defense of Obadiah.

In the first place, God Himself tells us that Obadiah “feared the LORD greatly”. Moreover, there is no rebuke anywhere, either from Elijah or from God that what Obadiah did was wrong. Elijah could have been upset that he had to drink brook water and be fed by raves, while Obadiah was getting to eat with the king; presumably eating well.

Elijah seems to have understood something that some today seem to have lost sight of: namely, that the race that was set before Elijah was custom-made by God for Elijah. It was not Obadiah’s task to run Elijah’s race. Obadiah had his own custom-made race by God for Obadiah. A lot of bickering over methods and how another person runs his race would go away of we would focus on running our own race, with our eyes fixed on the Savior instead of each other.