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Obadiah, Short and Sweet


Obadiah, what a fun name to say!  It actually means the servant of Yahweh.  This is a very short book of the Bible.  It is actually only one chapter.  Edomites are the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother.  They live in a “rock fortress” and have made their home “high in the mountains” (v3).  The Israelites inhabit Jerusalem at this time and, as usual, someone is attacking them.  Instead of coming to the aid of their relatives, the Edomites laugh and scoff at the Israelites and gloat in the fact that Israel is being taken over.  The book is a prophesy about how Edom is going to be destroyed for their actions against Israel. 

Some could read this book of the Bible and say, okay, I am done, but if you have read any of my other blogs, you know that isn’t how I roll.  When I was reading this book, I realized, how often do we act like those that can’t be touched?  We stand by while other Christians, our brothers and sisters in Christ, are attacked because we don’t want to be associated with them.  (I actually thought of the Westboro Baptist Church when I was reading this.  They are that “church” that protests soldier’s funerals, the Sandy Hook Elementary funerals etc…  They are “Christians” that are tearing down, not standing up for their brothers and sisters in Christ.) 

Do we want to be someone that stands up and says “who can ever reach us way up here?” (v3).   Would you say “we are so good in God’s graces that nothing bad could ever happen to me”; or “I am so much better than that person, and that person”; “I would never put myself in those kind of situations”.  The truth of the matter is, we are all human, and we all make mistakes.  If we help each other through those mistakes and assist our brothers and sisters in Christ when they are suffering through these or are being attacked from no cause of their own, then we are being the people Christ wants us to be.  If instead, we sit back and watch and laugh at the people going through that and make ourselves so high and mighty, we are in for ruin. 

My prayer today is that when I see a person suffering, that I don’t stay in my comfort zone, in the rock fortress that I have made for myself.  Instead, I want to be the person that leaves that fortress to assist and aid the person that is hurting, the people that need help.  I pray that I don’t get so caught up in my own life and my own routine, that I can’t see the suffering around me and try to help those that need it. 
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