It has been said that life is a series of calculated risks. Some risks are seemingly negligible. You could get food poisoning from your breakfast this morning. But the calculation of that risk makes it worth it. You could also survive jumping out of an airplane with no parachute, but the calculation of that risk tells you that you shouldn’t do it. Sometimes those risks could jeopardize the progress you have made previously. Imagine working all the way through a doctoral degree and standing before a council to defend your doctoral dissertation. If you fail, you will have exerted months if not years of your life for naught. If you succeed, you walk away with one of the highest educational honors.  

Obadiah faced one such risk. Obadiah’s name means “Servant of Yahweh.” I Kings 18 records that he “feared the Lord greatly.” So great was his faith that when Jezebel, that wicked queen, killed the prophets of God, Obadiah risked his own life to preserve the lives of 100 prophets by hiding them in caves and providing bread and water for them.  

So after all of this personal risk, you can imagine his apprehension when he meets Elijah while on a mission from the king, and the prophet instructs him to go back and tell Ahab that Elijah is in this place. Obadiah has done everything in his power to keep prophets of God AWAY from the king and now the prophet is saying that he WANTS to see the king. Obadiah offers the scenario that perhaps, after he leaves to deliver the message, God would move Eljiah from that place. Not only would Elijah’s life be in danger, but potentially Obadiah’s as well. If Obadiah dies, so too likely, would the 100 prophets of whom he was taking care. 

But Obadiah, fearing the Lord obeys and takes the message to the king. After a tense verbal exchange, Elijah proposes a tangible contest. Not 1 versus 100, but 1 versus 850! He will stand as the lone representative for God, and 450 prophets of Baal together with 400 additional false prophets would oppose him in this contest.  

The rules of the contest are simple: Each side gets a bull and an altar. You can do whatever you want, but you can’t light the fire of the altar, either Baal will light his altar or God will light His. Elijah elects to let them go first. They begin their intercessory rituals to Baal, and Elijah begins taunting. (Note: when your life is on the line, taunting the enemy is usually not a very good calculated risk!) He offers them suggestions that perhaps Baal is asleep, or on vacation and they need to try harder to reach him.  

Finally, it is Elijah’s turn. He doesn’t jump right in though. No, instead, he calls for barrels of water to be brought. Remember, Israel is in a 3 year drought, yet not one barrel or two, but twelve barrels of water with which to douse the sacrifice. Undoubtedly, some thought, “You use the water AFTER the fire to put the fire out, not before!” 

But in spite of the water thoroughly soaking the sacrifice, the wood, and even filling a moat around the altar, Elijah offers a simple prayer to God. “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” And immediately fire falls from heaven, burning up not only the wood and the sacrifice, but also the entire altar and evaporating all 12 barrels of water. 

Elijah had taken a calculated risk determining that his life was worth placing in the balance for God’s name to be honored once again in Israel. But Obadiah also took a calculated risk. He trusted in God so much that he risked his own life and his ability to provide for those 100 refugees in order to follow God’s instructions for His life. 

I don’t know what God may be asking you to do. Perhaps you feel the Lord prompting you to share the Gospel with that coworker or family member. Maybe the Lord is asking you to get involved in a ministry that is outside of your comfort zone. Or God could even be calling YOU to go to the ends of the earth proclaiming the precious message of God’s gift of eternal life. I assure you that when you accurately assess the risks of following God with the rewards He offers, you, like Obadiah and Elijah, will find it well worth it.