Grace Superior to the Forces of Environment
1 Kings 18:3
And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:


"A great city spoils everything within its circle, and you say it has the same effect upon character, and that a low type of character is excusable when you consider a city environment. No. That won't do for us. I rejoice to think that the grace of God makes a man triumph over the worst circumstances. Scientists say it is impossible for anything to exist and come to perfection except it has proper conditions. If you are to have the rose you must have the sun, and if you are to have the fern you must have the shade, and for the willow the watercourse. Suitable conditions, or life and perfection are impossibilities! Well, I suppose it is so, but I rejoice to say that breaks down when you come to character. This very day I can show you lovely roses growing in cellars; I can show you the purest of lilies in the miriest of places; I can show you the palms of the East growing in Lapland; in other words, to drop the imagery, I can show you the purest and noblest of men and women under circumstances that seem altogether unsuitable to a pure and noble life. Don't say that because your environment is this or that, therefore you must be a this or that mean creature. The Kingdom of God is within you, and can set circumstances at defiance.

(W. L. Watkinson.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:

WEB: Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly:




A Noble Character
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