OBADIAH, OR, EARLY PIETY EMINENT PIETY – Charles Spurgeon
OBADIAH, OR, EARLY PIETY EMINENT PIETY
“I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.” 1 Kings 18:12.
I suspect that Elijah did not think very much of Obadiah. He does not treat him with any great consideration, but addresses him more sharply than one would expect from a fellow Believer. Elijah was the man of action—bold, always to the front, with nothing to conceal. Obadiah was a quiet Believer—true and steadfast, but in a very difficult position and, therefore, driven to perform his duty in a less open manner. His faith in the Lord swayed his life, but did not drive him out of the court. I notice that even after Elijah had learned more of him at this interview, he speaks concerning God’s people as if he did not reckon much upon Obadiah and others like him. He says, “They have thrown down Your altars and slain Your Prophets with the sword and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” He knew very well that Obadiah was left, who, though not exactly a Prophet, was a man of mark, but he seems to ignore him as if he were of small account in the great struggle. I suppose it was because this man of iron, this Prophet of fire and thunder, this mighty servant of the Most High, set small store by anybody who did not come to the front and fight like he did. I know it is the tendency of brave and zealous minds to somewhat undervalue quiet, retired piety. True and accepted servants of God may be doing their best under great disadvantages and against fierce opposition, but they may scarcely be known and may even shun the least recognition. Therefore men who live in the fierce light of public life are apt to underestimate them. These minor stars are lost in the brilliance of the man whom God lights up like a new sun to flame through the darkness. Elijah flashed over the sky of Israel like a thunderbolt from the hand of the Eternal and, naturally, he would be somewhat impatient of those whose movements were slower and less conspicuous. It is Martha and Mary, over again, in some respects. The Lord does not love that His servants, however great they are, should think lightly of their lesser comrades. And it occurs to me that He so arranged matters that Obadiah became important to Elijah when he had to face the wrathful king of Israel. The Prophet is bid to go and show himself to Ahab and he does so. But he judges it better to begin by showing himself to the governor of his palace, that he may break the news to his master and prepare him for the interview. Ahab was exasperated by the terrible results of the long drought and might, in his sudden fury, attempt to kill the Prophet. And so he is to have time for consideration, that he may cool down a little. Elijah has an interview with Obadiah and bids him go and say to Ahab, “Behold Elijah.” It may sometimes be the nearest way to our objective to go a little round about. But it is remarkable that Obadiah should thus be made useful to a man so much his superior! He who never feared the face of kings, nevertheless found himself using, as his helper, a far more timid individual! The Lord may put you, my dear Brother, who are so eminent, so useful, so brave and, perhaps, so severe, into a position in which the humbler and more retiring Believer, who has not half the Grace, nor half the courage that you have, may, nevertheless, become important to your mission! And when He does this, He would have you learn the lesson, and learn it well, that the Lord has a place for all His servants, and that He would not have us despise the least of them, but value them and cherish the good that is in them. The head must not say to the foot, I have no need of you. Those members of the mystical body which are weakest are yet necessary to the whole fabric. The Lord does not despise the day of small things, neither will He have His people do so. Elijah must not deal harshly with Obadiah. I wish that Obadiah had had more courage—I wish that he had testified for the Lord, His God, as openly as Elijah did—but still, every man in his own order—to his own master every servant must stand or fall. All lights are not moons! Some are only stars and even one star differs from another star in glory. God has His praise out of the least known of the holy characters of Scripture even as the night has its light out of those glimmering bodies which cannot be discerned as separate stars, but are portions of nebulous masses in which myriads of faroff lights are melted into one.
We learn further from the narrative before us that God will never leave Himself without witnesses in this world! Yes, and He will not leave Himself without witnesses in the worst places of the world! What a horrible abode for a true Believer, Ahab’s court must have been! If there had been no sinner there but that woman, Jezebel, she was enough to make the palace a sink of iniquity! That strong-minded, proud, Sidonian Queen twisted poor Ahab round her fingers just as she pleased. He might never have been the persecutor he was if his wife had not stirred him up! But she intensely hated the worship of Jehovah and despised the homeliness of Israel in comparison with the more pompous style of Sidon. Ahab must yield to her imperious demands, for she would brook no contradiction. And when her proud spirit was awakened, she defied all opposition. Yet in that very court where Jezebel was mistress, the chamberlain was a man who greatly feared God! Never be surprised to meet with a Believer anywhere! Grace can live where you would never expect to see it survive for an hour. Joseph feared God in the court of Pharaoh. Daniel was a trusted counselor of Nebuchadnezzar. Mordecai waited at the gate of Ahasuerus. Pilate’s wife pleaded for the life of Jesus and there were saints in Caesar’s household! Think of finding diamonds of the first water on such a dunghill as Nero’s palace! Those who feared God in Rome were not only Christians, but they were examples to all other Christians for their brotherly love and generosity. Surely there is no place in this land where there is not some Light of God—the darkest cavern of iniquity has its torch. Be not afraid! You may find followers of Jesus in the precincts of Pandemonium. In the palace of Ahab you meet an Obadiah who rejoices to hold fellowship with despised saints—and quits the palaces of a monarch for the hiding places of persecuted ministers! I notice that these witnesses for God are very often persons converted in their youth. He seems to take a delight to make these His special standard-bearers in the day of battle. Look at Samuel! When all Israel became disgusted with the wickedness of Eli’s sons, the child Samuel ministered before the Lord. Look at David! When he is but a shepherd boy he wakes the echoes of the lone hills with his Psalms and the accompanying music of his harp. See Josiah! When Israel had revolted, it was a child, Josiah by name, that broke down the altars of Baal and burned the bones of his priests! Daniel was but a youth when he took his stand for purity and God. The Lord has, today—I know not where—some little Luther on his mother’s knee; some young Calvin learning in our Sunday school; some youthful Zwingli singing a hymn to Jesus. This age may grow worse and worse. I sometimes think it will, for many signs look that way, but the Lord is preparing for it. The days are dark and ominous and this eventide may darken down into a blacker night than has been known before, but God’s cause is safe in God’s hands! His work will not tarry for lack of men. Put not forth the hand of Uzzah to steady the Ark of the Lord—it shall go safely on in God’s predestined way! Christ will not fail nor be discouraged. God buries His workmen, but His work lives on. If there is not in the palace, a king who honors God, there shall yet be found, there, a governor who fears the Lord from his youth, who shall take care of the Lord’s Prophets and hide them away till better days shall come! Be of good courage and look for happier hours! Nothing of real value is in jeopardy while Jehovah is on the Throne. The Lord’s reserves are coming up and their drums beat victory.
I wish to speak with you, this morning, concerning Obadiah. His piety is the subject of discourse and we wish to use it for stimulating the zeal of those who teach the young.
I. Early Piety
First, we shall notice that Obadiah possessed EARLY PIETY—“I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.” Oh that all our youth who may grow up to manhood and womanhood may be able to say the same! Happy are the people who are in such a case! How Obadiah came to fear the Lord in youth we cannot tell. The instructor by whom he was led to faith in Jehovah is not mentioned. Yet we may reasonably conclude that he had believing parents. Slender as the ground may seem to be, I think it is pretty firm, when I remind you of his name. This would very naturally be given him by his father or his mother and, as it signifies, “the servant of Jehovah,” I should think it indicated his parents’ piety. In the days when there was persecution everywhere against the faithful and the name of Jehovah was in contempt because the calves of Bethel and the images of Baal were set up everywhere, I do not think that unbelieving parents would have given their child the name of, “The servant of Jehovah,” if they, themselves, had not felt a reverence for the Lord! They would not idly have courted the remarks of their idolatrous neighbors and the enmity of the great. In a time when names meant something, they would have called him, “The child of Baal,” or, “The servant of Chemosh,” or some other name expressive of reverence to the popular gods, if the fear of God had not been before their eyes. The selection of such a name betrays to me their earnest desire that their boy might grow up to serve Jehovah and never bow his knee before the abhorred idols of the Sidonian Queen. Whether this was so or not, it is quite certain that thousands of the most intelligent Believers owe their first bent towards godliness to the sweet associations of home. How many of us might well have borne some such a name as that of Obadiah, for no sooner did we see the light than our parents tried to enlighten us with the Truth of God! We were consecrated to the service of God before we knew that there was a God! Many a tear of earnest prayer fell on our infant brow and sealed us for Heaven—we were nursed in the atmosphere of devotion—there was scarcely a day in which we were not urged to be faithful servants of God and entreated, while we were yet young, to seek Jesus and give our hearts to Him. Oh, what we owe, many of us, to the Providence which gave us such a happy parentage! Blessed be God for His great mercy to the children of His chosen! If he had not gracious parents, I cannot tell how Obadiah came to be a Believer in the Lord in those sad days unless he fell in with some kind teacher, tender nurse, or, perhaps, a good servant in his father’s house, or pious neighbor who dared to gather little children around him and tell them of the Lord God of Israel. Some holy woman may have instilled the Law of the Lord into his young mind before the priests of Baal could poison him with their lies. No mention is made of anybody in connection with this man’s conversion in his youth and it does not matter, does it? You and I do not want to be mentioned if we are right-hearted servants of God. Not unto us be the glory! If souls are saved, God has the honor of it! He knows what instrument He used and as He knows it, that is enough. The favor of God is fame enough for a Believer. All the blasts of fame’s bronze trumpet are but so much wasted wind compared with that one sentence from the mouth of God, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Go on, dear Teachers—since you are called to the sacred ministry of instructing the young, do not grow weary of it! Go on, though you may be unknown, for the Seed you sow in the darkness shall be reaped in the light! You may be teaching an Obadiah, whose name shall be heard in future years—you may be providing a father for the Church and a benefactor for the world! Though your name is forgotten, your work shall not be. When that illustrious day shall dawn, compared with which all other days are dim—when the unknown shall be made known to the assembled universe—what you have spoken in darkness shall be declared in the light!
II. Persevering Piety
If it were not in this way that Obadiah was brought to fear the Lord in his youth, we may think of methods such as the Lord devises for the bringing in of His banished. I have been very pleased, lately, when I have been seeing enquirers, to talk with several young persons who have come out from utterly worldly families. I put to them the question, “Is your father a member of a Christian Church?” The answer has been a shake of the head. “Does he attend a place of worship?” “No, Sir, I never knew him to go to one.” “Your mother?” “Mother does not care about religion.” “Have you any brother or sister like-minded with yourself?” “No, Sir.” “Have you any single relative who knows the Lord?” “No, Sir.” “Were you brought up by anyone who led you to attend the means of Grace and urged you to believe on the Lord Jesus?” “No, Sir, and yet from my childhood I have always had a desire to know the Lord.” Is it not remarkable that it should be so? What a wonderful proof of the Election of Grace! Here is one taken out of a family while all the rest are left! What do you say to this? Here is one called in early childhood and prompted by the secret whispers of the Spirit of God to seek after the Lord—while all the rest of the family slumber in midnight darkness! If that is your case, dear Friend, magnify the Sovereignty of God and adore Him as long as you live, for, “He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.” Still, I take it, the major part of those who come to know the Lord in their youth are persons who have had the advantage of godly parents and holy training. Let us persevere in the use of those means which the Lord ordinarily uses, for this is the way of wisdom and duty.
This early piety of Obadiah’s had special marks of genuineness about it. The way in which he described it is, to my mind, very instructive, “I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.” I hardly remember in all my life to have heard the piety of children described in ordinary conversation by this term, though it is the common word of the Scriptures. We say, “The dear child loved God.” We talk of their, “being made so happy,” and so forth—and I do not question the rightness of the language. Still, the Holy Spirit speaks of, “the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom.” And David says, “Come, you children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Children will get great joy through faith in the Lord Jesus, but that joy, if true, is full of lowly reverence and awe of the Lord! Joy may be the sweet fruit of the Spirit, but it also may be an excitement of the flesh—for remember that they upon the stony ground, which had not much depth of earth, received the Word with joy and the seed sprang up immediately. But as they had no root, they withered when the sun was risen with burning heat. We cannot consider the exhilaration with which hearts receive the novelty of the Gospel to be the very best and surest sign of Grace. Again, we are pleased with children when we see in them much knowledge of the things of God, for in any case such knowledge is most desirable. Yet it is not conclusive evidence of conversion. Of course that knowledge may be a Divine fruit. If they are taught of the Spirit of God it is, indeed, well with them—but as it is more than possible that we, ourselves, may know the Scriptures and understand the whole theory of the Gospel and yet may not be saved—the same may be true in the case of our youth. The fear of God—which is so often neglected—is one of the best evidences of sincere piety! We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in us. When either child or adult has the fear of God before his eyes, this is the finger of God! By this we do not mean the servile fear which works dread and bondage, but that holy fear which pays reverence before the majesty of the Most High and has a high esteem of all things sacred because God is great and greatly to be praised. Above all things, young people need a dread of doing wrong, tenderness of conscience and anxiety of spirit to please God. Such a principle is a sure work of Grace and a surer proof of the work of the Holy Spirit than all the joy a child can feel, or all the knowledge it can acquire. I ask all teachers of the young to look well to this. There is a growing flightiness about the religion of the present day which makes me tremble. I cannot endure the religion which swims only in boiling water and breathes only in heated air. To me the whisper of the Spirit has no relationship to a brass band, much less does godliness treat the great God and the Holy Savior as matters for irreverent clamor. The deep-seated fear of the Lord is what is needed, whether in old or young—it is better to tremble at the Word of the Lord and to bow before the infinite majesty of Divine Love, than to shout oneself hoarse! O that we had more of the stern righteousness of the Puritans, or of the inner feeling of the olden Friends! Men, nowadays, put on their shoes and stamp and kick, but few seem to feel the power of that command given of old to Moses, “Take your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” The Truth of God is not meant to inflate us, but to humble us before the Throne of God!
Obadiah had early piety of the right kind. Beloved, it is not necessary that I should, at this point, speak to you at large upon the advantages of early piety. I will, therefore, only sum them up in a few sentences. To be a believer in God, early in life is to be saved from a thousand regrets. Such a man shall never have to say that he carries in his bones the sins of his youth. Early piety helps us to form associations for the rest of life which will prove helpful—and it saves us from those which are harmful. The Christian young man will not fall into the common sins of young men and injure his constitution by excesses. He will be likely to be married to a Christian woman and so to have a holy companion in his march towards Heaven. He will select as his associates those who will be his friends in the Church and not in the tavern—his helpers in virtue and not his tempters to vice. Depend upon it, a great deal depends upon whom we choose for our companions when we begin life. If we start in bad company, it is very hard to break away from it. The man brought to Christ early in life has this further advantage, that he is helped to form holy habits and he is saved from being the slave of their opposites. Habits soon become a second nature—to form new ones is hard work! But those formed in youth remain in old age. There is something in that verse— “‘Tis easier work if we begin To serve the Lord betimes. [early] But sinners who grow old in sin Are hardened in their crimes.” I am sure it is so!
Moreover, I notice that very frequently those who are brought to Christ while young grow in Grace more rapidly and readily than others do. They have not so much to unlearn and they have not such a heavy weight of old memories to carry. The scars and bleeding sores which come of having spent years in the service of the devil are missed by those whom the Lord brings into his Church before they have wandered far into the world.
As to early piety in its bearing upon others, I cannot too highly commend it. How attractive it is! Grace looks loveliest in youth. That which would not be noticed in the grown man, strikes at once the most careless observer when seen in a child. Grace in a child has a convincing force—the infidel drops his weapon and admires. A word spoken by a child abides in the memory and its artless accents touch the heart. Where the minister’s sermon fails, the child’s prayer may gain the victory! Moreover, religion in children suggests encouragement to those of riper years, for others, seeing the little one saved, say to themselves, “Why should not we, also, find the Lord?” By a certain secret power it opens closed doors and turns the key in the lock of unbelief. Where nothing else could win a way for the Truth of God, a child’s love has done it! It is still true, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have You ordained strength because of Your enemies, that You might still the enemy and the avenger.” Go on, go on, dear Teachers, to promote this most precious of all things beneath the sky—true religion in the heart—especially in the heart of the young! I have taken up, perhaps, too much time upon this early piety and, therefore, I will only give you hints, in the next place, as to its results.
III. Persevering Piety