Obadiah – the problem of pride

Obadiah 1:1-4

• These first few verses summarise Edom’s problem, the problem of pride.
• We don’t know a lot about Obadiah. We know that at that time Jerusalem had been ransacked and taken over by the Babylonian and we do know about Edom, it has connections all the way back to Genesis.

Genesis 25

• Isaac and Rebekah’s sons, the birth of the nation of Israel and the nation of Edom.
• Genesis 25:29-34
• Esau undervalued spiritual things and traded his birth right for food. We can also experience this in these extreme moments. Do we take God seriously?
• Jacob tricks their father Isaac into giving him the birth right and Esau hates his brother for this. From this moment the nation of Israel and Edom become enemies and it lasted for generations.
• In this world we all have an impact and the decisions individuals makes can have long lasting impacts. What bad decisions (we’ve or others have made) are we allowing to echo in our lives?

Obadiah 1:3-9

• We see the source or Edom’s pride and how God says he’ll bring them down.

• In their position v4
• In their wealth v6
• In their power v7
• In their wisdom v8
• In their strength v9

• God promises that each source of pride will be taken away, this reminds us that God cares about justice and believes in right and wrong.

Obadiah 1:10-14

• Obadiah outlines the path to pride

• Pride begins in the human heart v1-3
• Then causes us to place undue value in things other than God v4-9
• Then manifests in the wrong we do for the sake of those things v10-14

• We have to be careful of what’s in our heart as eventually it will come out and be shown in our lives.

Obadiah 1:15-16

• It’s not just about Edom, Edom is an example of how God feels about sin and pride.
• We all deserve judgement but we often like to downplay the impact of sin in our lives.
• Esau treated spiritual things lightly – we must be careful not to treat sin lightly. When we minimise sin we are minimising what Jesus achieved on the cross.
• This doesn’t mean we should all be racked with guilt, but it does mean we shouldn’t shy away from talking about sin and the consequences of it.

Obadiah 1:17-21

• The book ends with hope, peace and restoration for Israel and every nation.
• The impact of Esau’s pride corrupted a nation and the impact of Jesus’ power saved the Word.
• The more serious we take our sin, the more wonderful and glorious the cross becomes. When we acknowledge our sin and pride we are acknowledging our need for a saviour.

Challenges from Obadiah

• What impact do we have in our life? And are we letting past decisions dictate our future?
• Are we minimising sin? Do we acknowledge that we need a saviour?
• If pride is the problem, the answer is Jesus. We have hope because of God’s grace, sin and pride are dealt with through Jesus. Let us never lose the wonder of the cross.