If we were to make a list of the various challenges that we have to face in life and throughout life, they would be many and varied indeed. And we encounter them at various times of life, and they come in various degrees. They come in various forms. We might call them trials. We might call them ordeals. We might call them problems. We might call them crises. And some of these challenges are quite common. While some of them that come our way aren't very common at all. Some of the challenges are simply part of growing up. Our boys and girls can appreciate that. You learn how to crawl, you learn how to walk, you learn how to run. They didn't come automatically, but they came. And whether you're young or old, you've got to solve these problems that come, these challenges. Some of them can be academic, mastering a skill. a manner of developing gifts and talents that have been given to us by the Lord. We learn how to add and subtract and multiply and divide, and then we set our sights on more complex problems. And the challenges that we face may be spiritual as well as physical, a test of our fortitude, testing our ability to persevere, not just at the task at hand, but the calling of the Lord to be faithful to a faithful God. Some of these challenges that we pursue, we enjoy. We enjoy the challenge. We take it on. We say, bring it on. Let's go. Or at least we don't fear it. While others we would avoid if we had the choice to be sure. We didn't want that coming our way. Some of them seek to test our limits. Some of them call us to strive for some sort of excellence, some sort of degree. The challenge may be to graduate or simply to endure. The challenge may be found in the occupation in which we find ourselves right now, or to be able to handle various other tasks that have been entrusted to us. All the challenges of life are many. And we really just sang about that too. And when we view them as people who are called to be Christians, then we see that life itself is a challenge. When we see that we're saved in Christ, because when we're saved in Christ, then we realize that throughout life, our life is a service to God in everything. And what a marvelous and weighty challenge that is to be instruments in his hand, sought to bring glory to him in everything. And so in that sense, the Christian life, life itself then is a challenge from beginning to end. And what we find in our passage this morning, the person of Obadiah, the chief steward of Ahab, the prime minister, if you would, His ambassador is the one who finds Ahab as Lord, in a sense. What we find here in the person of Obadiah is the very thing that you and I find when we've come to know Christ as children of God, as part of the church of Jesus Christ, as part of his people, as those who belong to Christ. And what we find is the challenge of being employed by God. To serve him, to carry his word to the world, and simply to serve him as his ambassador in all things, the most challenging calling. And yet it's also a calling that isn't without its consolation. Like we said earlier, right? Either the Lord comes and consoles us with his grace so that we might carry forth, or he calls us to his service and he reminds us of that grace to which he's, which is the basis for why he sends us forth. And so he gives us his consolation too, so that we would take up the challenges that come our way. And not in our own strength, but in the strength of Lord Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts to do the good that the Lord has planned for us to do that we might walk in them all our day and to do so without fear. So we take a look this morning at the challenge to be in the Lord's employment and then the comfort that we need as we face those challenges of being employed by the Lord. So first of all, the challenge. Obadiah serves as the prime minister of Israel. He's the chief steward. He's the ambassador for Ahab. And he's now explicitly serving as the ambassador of the Lord. And he's doing that through the word that Elijah the prophet has given to him. In the name of the Lord of hosts, Obadiah is being called now not really first of all to serve Lord Ahab, but the Lord God Almighty as his instrument, as his ambassador to his Lord Ahab. He's being called to carry out God's business in the world. And he's being sent, like an apostle you might say, Even like Elijah was being sent to be of use for God and His purposes. And in essence, Elijah is saying, as I've been sent, so send I you. Which is what Christ would say to His followers as well. And such sending is what God does all the time for His purposes. He sends. He sends Elijah. He now sends Obadiah on a mission. And later, he will send his son into the world, and Christ will send his apostles, who, again, as he would say to them, as I've been sent, so send I you. And that kind of sending and those kind of missions are great honor. And they're remarkable callings and assignments. Because such sendings on such missions for the purposes of God are to be highly honored. Their mission's for the most high, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of hosts. And yet they're challenging. And there are heavy responsibilities. And Obadiah knows it. Like anybody who understands correctly the weighty calling of serving the Lord and fearing Him, He also sees why this calling and this mission is so challenging. He underlines it. He sees the challenge in three ways specifically. He's bringing the word of the Lord to those who oppose it. He's bringing it to Ahab, who's not a fan of the word of the Lord. We'll see that more later when he calls Elijah the troubler of Israel. He's not a fan of the prophetic ambassador of the word of the Lord. And Obadiah, who fears the Lord greatly, this is another thing that he's not appreciating right now, he's now being called to further obedience, continual obedience, and that weighs on him. He's been fearing the Lord since his youth. And he's already been serving admirably, as we mentioned last week, as he was both in the world but not of the world. But now this calling is continuing, and it's ramping up, and we see that really in the third thing that Obadiah sees. And that is that the challenge has become now public in nature, whereas his service in the past was more secretive. So there's more risk involved. It hasn't been that he hasn't been sacrificing, But now our more public standing for the right is going to ramp up the risk of being a person who has not bowed down the knee to bail. So Obadiah pushes back a bit here at first because of the challenge before him. You know, what are you doing here? Why are you making life miserable for me? And what he finds himself doing, and that's part of why he's pushing back, is because he's focusing on Ahab now, and he's not focusing on the Lord. He's afraid, also, not only is he focusing on Ahab and not on the Lord, but he's afraid the Holy Spirit's going to contradict his word. Because he says, you're telling me to go and get Ahab and bring him back, But then the Spirit of the Lord, I mean, nobody's been able to find you, and now the Spirit of the Lord's going to send you somewhere else. I can't trust that. I can't trust the Word. I can't trust that the Spirit's going to work with the Word. You know, we live in a time like that a lot of times, that people want to think the Spirit's at odds with the Word, when it's the Spirit who inspires the Word. And people will say, well, the Spirit told me this and this and this, and it doesn't mesh up with Scripture. But, you know, they want to say, this is what God has told me through the Spirit. And don't worry if it contradicts with his word. Well, Moabitai is worried that the Spirit is contradicting, going to contradict the word. Send Elijah away. He's like, I can't trust your word. And of course, there's this fear that's been placed in him in some temporary spiritual disobedient paralysis. I don't want to go. Now from a New Testament perspective, Obadiah is called to be like Jesus Christ here, who is the chief ambassador and apostle for God. Jesus would say in John chapter 12 and John chapter 14, he would say, I've not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has given me a commandment. what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine. The Father sent me. Obadiah, as he's called to be Christ-like, sees the challenges full well. If I serve as one sent by God, I'm going to face opposition, because not everybody appreciates the gospel of God, the cause of God, the will of God. And they want to go their own way, and their own way opposes the way of the Lord. And opposition is no fun. Obadiah realizes already that when he supports the proclamation of the word of the Lord, and as he serves the kingdom, it's risky business. But he also wearies. When he thinks about what he's already been doing, and now he's being called to a further ambassadorship. Don't you realize what I've done for God's kingdom? Don't you realize I've been doing this since I was young? And haven't I done enough already? And haven't the challenges been enough already? Don't you sense that weariness sometimes? When you're called to the challenges that keep coming in your life, the flood of mortal ills prevailing. And we sense that weariness when we're called to those challenges that the Lord has placed before us. And he said, I'm calling you to my service here. I mean, Obadiah didn't ask for this. He didn't go searching out Elijah and say, give me something hard. Like what we often face in life. You know, somebody approaches us and says, you know, I think you're the man or the woman for that position. And you might think, yeah, I could do that. Or you seek out these challenges, because you know your gifts, you know your talents, and you know, I think I could be up to that. I could do that. But then there's other things that come your way. You didn't expect them. You weren't asking for them. But then other challenges come your way. You didn't ask for them, you wouldn't have asked for them. You didn't pray for them. But the Lord comes to you and says, this is the challenge that I've set before you now. And I'm calling you to serve me well in the midst of this challenge. And when we're called to face those challenges, it reminds us not only of what Obadiah went through, and say, well, I can appreciate what Obadiah is facing here, because he could die for this, if he thinks so. But it should also point us to what Jesus Christ went through for us as the chief ambassador and apostle for God and for the sake of his people. Hebrews 3 calls us to consider Jesus the apostle, the ambassador, the one who was sent, and the high priest of our confession, who is faithful to him who appointed him. Moses was faithful in God's house, in all God's house as a servant, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we're his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boast and our hope. And so what the writer of Hebrews is saying is, you know, we see the challenges of life, but we're to see the challenges of life as those who consider the faithfulness of Christ for us and the help he gave us. So we might find faithfulness in our own lives and challenges we face. Because being an ambassador of the Lord, which if you're a Christian, that's what you are. That is no easy challenge. That's your life. That's my life. Jesus Christ is the greatest of those ambassadors, had the greatest challenge of all. It's the one who would have to bear the sin of his people and the wrath of God and mercy and justice that we'll be hearing more about tonight. But serving like Christ in all the ways that we're called to is most challenging. And those of you who are Christians, I don't have to tell you about the challenges that you face. Some that you reached out to take And some that came your way whether you wanted it or not. How does Obadiah face those challenges? How do we as Christians? Well, nothing helps us like an encouraging word from the Lord. And Obadiah receives one. And so do we. I mean, that's the part of why we come here. We come to worship the Lord, but we also come to receive an encouraging word as we serve the Lord. In fears and frustrations like Obadiah, we can hear Elijah say, it surely is the Lord of hosts lives. The Lord of the angelic hosts. As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today. You can count on it. I'm going to be true to that. And that was all Obadiah needed to hear. No more dialogue, no more disputing, no more rebuttals. He's refocused. He responds faithfully to his calling to be an ambassador for the Lord. That reminds us of what Prophet Isaiah says in chapter 54 as he's speaking to the Lord's people there. Verse 4, fear not, for you will not be ashamed, be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood, you will remember no more, for your maker is your husband, and the Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. So the Lord has called you like a wife deserted in grief and spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my faith from you, but with everlasting love I'll have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. And Obadiah goes. All Obadiah needed was a reminder from the word, what he knew all along. Maybe you run into this like I do sometimes when people are thinking that all is hopeless. And I'll say to them, you need to hear the gospel. You need to be somewhere where you hear the gospel and hear God say these sort of things. Yeah, I know about that. You need to hear it. Obadiah needed to hear it. He feared the Lord since his youth. He knew that, but he needed to hear it. And he wouldn't have been somebody who would have said, oh, I never heard that before. He needed to hear it. And it was a reminder to him about what he did know all along, as he was called to the challenge of being an ambassador in the name of the Lord. The challenge, you see, was speaking so loudly in his ear that it was distracting him into believing that the challenge was greater than the Lord of hosts. The challenges of being a Christian in our day and age can shout so loudly that that's all we hear. And we're tempted to believe that those challenges are greater than the Lord of hosts, and His promises to see us through them. For the joys that were set before Christ, He endured the cross, His challenge. He scorned its shame, and now what? He sits and He rules at God's right hand. Not the politicians, not the maladies of our day, not the challenges that face us. Not the amount of challenges. Challenges where you and I, if we're thinking about why they come our way, it's so we might serve as ambassadors of the one whose word we can trust. Whose word is supreme. the Lord of hosts. And to serve him not just as imitators of Obadiah and say, I want to be like Obadiah. But that I could be like Jesus Christ. Who's the greatest ambassador. who's the one we're supposed to imitate, who says, as I was sent, so send I you, the greatest apostle of them all. You know, when we take a moment, we can see that it doesn't take much to see the challenges that are ours to overcome. There's a lot of them. And there are various degrees. And they are there for us from the time we are born to the time that we die. But may we find our comfort and inspiration from the One who has overcome the world and its challenges in Jesus Christ. So that like Him, just like Obadiah, what we might be In the midst of those challenges is the ambassadors of the Lord that we're called to be. And we've been employed to be. Serving the Savior. Serving the Savior in all the challenges that come our way. And God so bless us to that end. Amen. Father, we want to, let's pray a moment.