Obadiah bowed low to the ground, saying, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” I Kings 18: 7.
The sermon below is a preached version of an article I wrote long ago analyzing the story of the beginning of the prophet Elijah’s ministry. That beginning is told in I Kings 17-19, and you can read the article (“Elijah: The Growth of a Prophet“) to see how different the two styles of presentation are. There are probably a dozen other ways (or more) the article could have been transformed by speaking it as a sermon.
The gist might have been the same, however. That God’s primary work is not through the world of nature—not through earth, wind, fire, or water—but in the human heart. At the beginning of his storied career as perhaps the most glamorous, spectacular prophet of all time, Elijah relied too much on God’s presence as someone who could manipulate nature in miraculous ways, and not as someone who spoke deeply—and often quietly—to the human heart. Jesus complained of people needing signs and wonders in order to believe. To “doubting Thomas” Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
Here my first approach to I Kings 17-19 is literary. This passage was always a centerpiece in my course Sacred Texts as Literature. Over the years hundreds of students took this course, one of whom is now a bishop in the United Methodist Church! We studied portions of five sacred texts—The Bible, Qur’an, Dhammapada, Tao de Ching, and Bhagavad Gita—and this passage in I Kings was one of the most compact ways to 
demonstrate the qualities of a good, literary story. It has a compelling character, a structure where the main points are foreshadowed right at the beginning and circled back to at the end. It also has some weight: looming behind it is an important theme—here the idea that Jahweh, Jehovah, was not primarily a nature god. And it is surprising: here the main surprise being that after all the miracles Elijah had experienced and performed himself, he so easily caves in when King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, threatens him. And as a further surprise, it’s Obadiah, the one in charge of the king’s palace, the one who comes off as a somewhat comical character when he’s first encountered, who exhibits more courage than anyone in the story. Elijah would have to grow much more to understand Obadiah’s courage.
This sermon was preached during a time of significant transition at our church. During these times courage is certainly a factor, but perhaps even more is also a steadfastness that causes us to do what we feel is necessary—even if entails only smaller things—day after day. That lesson Obadiah also teaches us.
♦ Go HERE for a complete list of sermons, like “Pentecost Means No ‘Supremacies,'” “Sacred Doing,” and “Theology and Race.”