Defy the Famine

Sometimes life gets dry. In your work or business, nothing good seems to come from your effort. In your spiritual life, you pray, but the blessing never comes. Right now, you might hesitate to do anything. You have talent. You have seeds to sow, but why bother? I’m telling you that now might be the time to defy the famine.

When I say,

Defy the famine

…I’m not saying that you should have a bad attitude. No. I’m telling you that you shouldn’t allow your circumstances to keep you from reaping God’s blessings.

Your life might feel like a famine, but sometimes God wants you to step out in faith. Who will you obey?…

God or the past?

This was the second famine in the Bible. The first famine affected…

Abraham.

When that famine came, we find Abraham…

Going to Egypt.

The Bible says,

There was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Genesis 12:10

When Abraham went to Egypt, he had access to plenty of food until the famine came to an end.

Now, time had passed. Another famine had come. Isaac decided to do what his father had done.

He would soon find out that yesterday’s solutions aren’t always best for today.

Sometimes, you must stay open to changes. Even if you’ve made up your mind, you may have to choose between…

God or your plans.

Isaac had already set his course for Egypt. He had made his plans. However, God spoke to him when he was traveling through the land of the Philistines.

Scripture tells us what …

Isaac

…did.

Food was scarce. In fact, Isaac was going to Egypt to find food.

I think it’s interesting That going to Egypt was the right thing for Abraham to do, but…

Staying in Gerar

…was God’s will for Isaac.

God told Isaac to stay where he was.

Notice, he didn’t tell Isaac to undo what he had already done. God spoke a blessing over him right there, in the land of the Philistines.

Isaac could have continued going to Egypt. After all, he was all packed. He had already made plans. He had set his course.

It didn’t make sense to him, to stay in Gerar, but he did it anyway.

I want you to learn…

How to defy the famine.

Isaac decided to…

Obey God.

Isaac had plans, but he was willing to let God change them.

Staying in a famine didn’t make sense, but Isaac, along with his father Abraham, already had learned to…

Ignore doubt.

Scripture tells us how, years earlier, Abraham obeyed God and took Isaac to make a…

Sacrifice with no lamb.

Here’s what the Bible says in Genesis Chapter 22:

Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said… Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Isaiah 22:7

God was testing Abraham’s faith. In that account, we learn that exercising faith sometimes puts other people’s lives on the line.

If God didn’t come through, providing a sacrifice for Abraham, Isaac would have died.

Now Isaac was in another situation that didn’t make sense.

God wanted him to…

Live with no food.

Isaac knew Egypt had food. He also knew that Gerar didn’t. Again, exercising faith put his life and his family’s life on the line.

In a similar situation, we might get depressed. We might think we have no way out. We might feel that nothing we can do can fix the situation.

We might even get angry at God for forcing us to live in famine.

Isaac did none of that. He chose to defy the famine. He leaned into the situation.

While obeying God, living in famine, doing something that didn’t make sense, endangering his life, Isaac did something else that didn’t make sense.

In faith, he chose to…

Plant seed.

Scripture tells us that…

Isaac sowed in that land…

Genesis 26:12

Isaac could have held onto his seeds. I’m sure he could’ve scraped by, living on what little food he could find in the land.

But living in famine wasn’t good enough. Waiting for a better opportunity wasn’t good enough.

I’m sure the people around Isaac thought he was making a bad choice. Seeds were scarce. You shouldn’t waste them, especially during a famine. Perhaps you could do better by keeping your seeds until after the famine.

I want you to notice,

Isaac stayed in faith.

Isaac obeyed God. God had spoken a blessing over him. Isaac received God’s Word into his spirit.

That caused him to step out on faith.

Isaac sowed in faith.

Pretty soon…

Isaac flourished in faith.

Who would have believed that Isaac would become wealthy during a famine? Especially by sowing his seeds?

Here’s what the Bible says:

[Isaac] received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.

Genesis 26:12

I’m asking you what is…

Your response

…to famine in your life?

Maybe you’ve made survival plans. Maybe you want to run to Egypt like Abraham, but maybe God doesn’t want you in Egypt.

Maybe you want to go back home or to a familiar place. You could go back to where you started your journey, but God doesn’t want you to backtrack.

Maybe God wants you to stay where you are. Stay in faith. Stay in peace.

Let God bless you in the famine. Choose His plan over yours.

Perhaps you’ve obeyed God. You know He spoke a blessing over you, but nothing’s happening.

Prophet Hagai asked this question:

Is the seed yet in the barn?

Haggai 2:19

You already have what you need to get through the famine.

Today, why not step out in faith, like Isaac did? Why not put some action to your faith?

Defy the famine. Go sow your seed. God has amazing things in store for you, but you need to take the next step.

Go further with God

Check out some other of Bruce Tyson’s Bible messages:

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