In times of famine, what was the response of the church? What
is famine? It is a common word in the Old Testament but present in the New Testament;
however, it is easy to relate it to the Old Testament because it was purely an
agrarian economy. Famine means that there is no rain and as such, there was
scarcity of food and there was hunger. But in the New Testament, famine is much
more than the withholding of rain because, in our day and time, ours is a cash
economy such that even with ideas put to work, creativity put to work, things
just doesn’t seem to be working.
The Encarta dictionary defines famine as extreme food
scarcity, deficiency of something (valuables, necessities), extreme hunger,
hardship. Do we have precedents in the scripture? Yes! What was the response?
We can find out.
Famines are usually sent by God, permitted by God as a result
of God’s anger against His people who are guilty, who have turned their backs
on Him. He permits it, He brings it. There are times God brings famines in
order to get a people’s attention. It is also a means of judgment.
Types of Famines
God can call for a famine of hardship, scarcity – 2 Kings 8:1-2
A famine of judgment (lack of the word) – Amos 8:11
A famine of judgment (2
Samuel 21:1)
In Matthew 24:3,
Jesus’ disciples came to ask Him about the sign of His coming and in verse 7,
he said, “For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and
pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.” In our day and time, we
have all kinds. There is not one nation singing glory right now.
Two Bad Examples
“Now it came to pass in
the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a
certain man of Bethlehem – Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he,
and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the
name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion,
Ephrathites of Bethlehem – Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and
continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died… And Mahlon and Chilion
died also both of them, And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
Then she arose with her daughters – in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had
visited his people in giving them bread.” Ruth 1:1-6
The natural response of Elimelech when things became hard was
to look for a place to go in order to escape the hardship. God was not in his
decision to move to Moab. There was no achievement in his movement other than
for him to settle there and died. Even his sons only consolidated their stay
there by marrying Moabite ladies and in time too, they died.
Every decision in the flesh brings death. Understand this! Life
and good, death and evil have harvest time. It is very possible that Elimelech
may not have died if he had stayed in his home town such that, when God visited
to give them bread, he may have been one of the distributors of the bread.
There may be scarcity now but rain is coming and when it
comes, the rain will get to you when you are under the open heavens. That is,
the rain will only meet you when you are where God put you and not where your
senses, calculations, or where men take you.
By the time Naomi heard that God had visited His people, her
husband and sons had died. It is no wonder that the bible say in order to
inherit the promises, it will be through faith and patience and in Matthew 24:13, it says “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
The bible also admonishes us to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ. (2 Tim.2:3)
The natural response to famine is to hustle, to do some
calculations, to do guess work, to jump up and down. The end of this natural
response is death, pain, loss. No place has an advantage over another. The only
advantage you have is God.
The prodigal son is another example. Having blown his
inheritance on frivolities, “And when he
had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in
want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent
him into his feeds to feed swine… And when he came to himself, he said, how
many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my
father, and will say unto him, Father; I have sinned against heaven, and before
thee.” Luke 14:14-18
There are some joining that will terminate your life either
gradually or suddenly if you do not disconnect. After joining himself to men
and it didn’t pay off, he later came to himself and decided to go to the
Father. Who is your father? There are some joining that either takes men up or
down and when you are joined with the wrong ones you will remain in their
captivity.
But where is the starting point? In times of famine, you
don’t run from your Father (God) rather you run to Him. This is the take off
point. It is the time to strengthen your relationship with Him, your Source,
you are like a tree planted by the rivers of water and , whose leaves remain
green and brings forth fruit in due season. Natural men on the other hand,
forget God in times of famine; they lose concentration on God, join themselves
to men and run up and down. But a wise man turns to God and become intimate
with Him. Instead of joining yourself to men, join yourself to God.
The founding fathers of our faith are Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. When we take a look at their lives, we see the pattern that God has set
for the church to follow. They are like icons. Let’s take a look at the case of
one of them.
“And there was famine
in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac
went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared
unto him, and said, go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall
tell thee of.” Gen. 26:1-2
The problem was not Egypt, if you are not in the land God
told you to be, you will suffer. Isaac wanted to go down to Egypt because it
was flourishing at that time, at least, there was no mention of famine there.
However, in verse 6, Isaac dwelt in Gerar by obeying the
voice of God not to go down to Egypt.
“Then, Isaac sowed in
that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed
him.” Gen 26:12
Isaac became so great that the Philistines envied him, and
then, he began to dig the wells which his father Abraham dug and they strove
with him until they could strive with him no more that he finally dug a well
and called it “Rehoboth” which means “The Lord has made room for us, and we
shall be fruitful in the land.” Gen. 26:22. Until you can conquer strife, you
will only be near Rehoboth but never enter in. Isaac had to conquer strife to
get to Rehoboth. Rehoboth is the place of rest. It is the place in which God
has made room. It is the place where you have conquered strife, all opposition
(internal and external) and have entered rest. Interestingly, what you need to
conquer is majorly internal not externalThus, in times of famine, scarcity, run
to your source, that is the take off point.
What to Do in Times of
Famine
1.
Hear God. That
is the starting point. Isaac heard God. We must train ourselves to hear God in
times of famine. There are two things common to those in the hall of faith; (Heb. 11) they had a personal
relationship with God and they heard God. One of the fundamental problems of
the present day church is that, we are dull of hearing. Hearing God is not an
option. It is a must. You must be able to hear what He’s saying per time. There
are three things involved in hearing God, namely:
a. Train yourself to hear God personally
in your inner man
b. Train yourself to hear God from the
book – the bible
c. Train yourself to hear God from the
man of God
When it comes to corporate instructions, God will not give it
to you in your closet, but because you have trained yourself to hear God, when
you hear the word of God from the man of God, you will know that it is God
speaking and you can apply your heart to it by linking it with your personal
dealings. Lives are not changing; things are not happening because people have
not trained themselves to hear the definite message God is trying to
communicate. When times are hard, it’s a word from God that can dissolve it.
Abraham did not hear from God before he went down to Egypt
and the result of that move, we are still suffering today. Isaac was almost
going to make the same mistake but God showed up on his behalf and he left off
going to Egypt but stayed where God told to be.
Training yourself to hear from God does not happen by mistake
or automatically. It takes a deliberate and conscious effort in learning to
hear from God first in little things. “If
ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Is. 1:19. This verse of scripture means
that there is good in the land and there’s bad also. Besides, good is a product
of life (Deut.30:15). When you
willingly obey God, you will eat the good of the land. You cannot partake of
the good in the land if you don’t obey Him. “If
they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their
years in pleasures.” Job.36:11.
In other words, you cannot serve somebody you cannot obey, and you cannot obey
somebody you are not hearing from. The difference between the blessed and
cursed man is obedience to the word.
In times of famine, you must have more than the written word;
you must have a ‘Rhema’ word, a definite word. Jesus said, “the words that I speak, they are Spirit and they are life.” The characteristics
of famine is hustling, irrational and rash decisions and choices in major
issues of life like pursuits, location, instability etc.
When God called Abraham, He told him to leave his country and
kindred to a land He (God) would show him. Likewise, when Paul encountered the
risen Christ, he asked ‘who art thou, Lord?” Jesus introduced himself and he
asked Jesus what he would have him do and Jesus told him where to go and who to
see. Paul never received what he was to do until he was where he was told to
go. This goes to show that somebody can be in the Lord for years and still have
scales in his eyes and die with the scales still on. When scales are in the
eyes of a man, he can’t see clearly neither can he make correct judgment.
Abraham didn’t remember his first encounter when famine came and that was why
he went down to Egypt due to the way he felt. He later learnt his lesson
though, when strife arose between his and Lot’s herdsmen. He didn’t attempt to
move until he heard from God. (Gen. 12,
13, Acts)
2.
Dwell there. “And the Lord appeared unto him, and said,
go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.” Gen. 26:2. Egypt was not the problem.
The question is, ‘who sent you?’ You must be where God told you to be and not
where you want to be. There is no land that has more advantage over another.
The only advantage every man has is the God factor. God didn’t tell Isaac to
pass through the land but to dwell there (live, abide). God can only keep you
where He put you. God didn’t go to meet Adam where he took himself after the
fall, but stayed where He expected him to be, Jesus also went to meet the
disciples after He resurrected where He expected them to be. A man will never
see the good in the place God told him to be until he makes up his mind to
stay. He cannot see anything good in that place, neither can he do anything
meaningful in that place because in times of famine, hustling increases,
jumping up and down also increases. Your stay in that land may be temporal or
permanent but you must not miss His time. When you miss His time, you’ve lost
His covering. A land you do not rejoice over cannot yield for you, a land you
are ashamed of, cannot bless you. You must have the right attitude in order to
dwell there.
3.
Sow in the land.
Do not be deceived, it is what you sow you will reap. One of the
responsibilities of the church in the time of famine is to sow. If we fail to
sow, we are doomed. As the earth remains, seed time and harvest… will not
cease. Famine does not alter that order. The blessing God bestowed on Isaac was
as a result of his staying where God told him to be and sowing in that land.
Consequently, he received in that same year he sowed, a hundredfold. The
blessing of God upon him was beyond what he put on the ground. This blessing
began to show all round. A seed, most of the times never looks like the fruit,
but when you plant that seed, it grows into a tree which will eventually bear
fruits and inside the fruit are seeds. This blessing is also beyond having
money because you may have money yet your life is no different from a cursed
man, you may have money but still have sick people around you, your home also
could be in disorder. This is not so with a blessed man, everything about him
is glorious and working. Isaac sowed in that land during the time of famine
because he was not a natural man. The natural man will speculate, calculate,
hustle and guess. He was led by the Spirit of God, “for as many who are led by
the Spirit of God, are the sons of God.”
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But
his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and
night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalm 1:1-3. Why will he prosper? God is his
source. “He that observeth the wind shall
not sow, and he that regardeth the cloud shall not reap.”
Eccl. 11:4. If
you don’t sow, you will not reap. “Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In
all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Prov. 3:5-6. The natural is always at conflict with the
spiritual. The way you feel always run contrary to what God is saying and
expects you to do. The natural response to famine is not to sow but the
spiritual man knows it is sowing time. Gen.
8:22.
What Do We Sow?
1. Your life. “If
ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”
(Gal.3:29) You sow your life by bothering to find out exactly where God
will have you be, do and how, then willingly agreeing, and yielding to Him all
the way.
2. The word of God. The parable of the sower calls the
seed the word of God. (Mk.4:4)
How Is The Word Of God Sown?
a. By preaching the word by our
lifestyle or making deliberate and conscious effort to preach through
evangelism, exhortation, discipleship. Where the word of God is released, the
power of God is released to liberate.
b. By speaking it. Famine time is a
frustrating time such that, it can make you utter contaminated perverted and
unbelieving words which only makes things harder and worse. Such words are
seeds and what we say is what will become our experience. Words are like
bullets, when released, can’t be retrieved. In times of famine, we must insist
on speaking the word of God. When negative thought run through your mind,
address it with the word of God. Speak the word openly, privately. Whatever,
you are saying per time should be in line with God’s word.
c. Prayer. Praying the word is sowing
seeds. When we say it’s sowing time, we’re saying it’s praying time. Praying
time is sowing time.
d. Obedience. Every time you obey the
word, you are sowing the word. At every time, the word should be the reason why
you do what you do, it’s a seed that will speak.
3.
Build and Invest in that land. It will not make sense to build and invest in the time of
famine. Isaac sowed in that land when there was famine. It is time to build and
invest in the land. Building starts with a thought. It starts with having an
agreement with God’s word. Until your thinking and heart align with it, the
money to build will never come. The take off point is to believe.
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are
carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away… Build ye houses,
and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives,
and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your
daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be
increased there, and not diminished.” Jer. 29:4-6.
The famine that was in the time of
Abraham was different from Isaac’s which was worse than his father’s time, and
in the time of Jacob (Israel), the famine that was , was greater than that of
Abraham and Isaac’s, such that, money failed. But in Israel’s time, God made
provision for them by allowing Joseph to be sold as a slave in Egypt, his being
there gave room to God to exempt His chosen people from the famine. Everything
they did was as God instructed Joseph. This is the time to follow God’s
instructions and it should be for (1) Kingdom investment (2) Investment. See Gen. 47:14-17.
4.
Give financially to kingdom advancement in the land. The prospering of the gospel in
that land should be your primary concern. That is your primary reason for being there. You
shouldn’t hold more or less than what you ought to hold per time. You must know
what to hold and what to scatter. Prov.
11:29, 2 Cor.9:10
Our covenant fathers took deliberate steps in obedience to
God’s instruction to reverse the adverse effect of famine in order to have a
different experience. We can’t stop the famine from coming but we can exempt
ourselves from it through obedience to His instructions.
