“Surviving the famine in your life”

June 22nd, 2009
· by admin · Filed Under: Uncategorized

by: Evangelist Scott Grimm

How many of us can attest to the fact, the truth, that at some point in time we have been in a famine, in a desert, in a dark and gloomy place where we were depressed beyond description? Where we thought we would never find our way out. Where all of our thoughts were continually evil and we were hopeless? We had no way out. We were imprisoned in our situation, hopeless in our thought life, and stuck in the present?

I know I have been there on numerous occasions. Points in my {past} life where hope was no where to be found. Periods of incredible insecurity and loneliness. Times as a young man that fear dominated every part of my being. Strange imaginations that ran wild in my mind that gave me no hope. Only depression, desperation and deep, deep thoughts of loneliness.

Tough and uncertain economic times where I didn’t know where the next meal would come from. How I was going to pay the bills? Even worse a time where I lost my position and income with a house full of kids! Thank God that at that particular time in my life I was a believer in Christ and had a strong foundation of faith, built upon His word and my relationship with Him. Quite frankly had it not been for that I can’t imagine where I would be today.

Maybe you are in one of those dry places today. You have lost your job, you are wondering how you are going to survive? You may be faced with losing your home and you are carrying an incredible burden of family and finances. You may feel all alone, afraid, terrified not knowing what to do. You have tried everything you know how and nothing seems to be working. If this, or any part of it, describes you know that you are not alone!

Throughout history man has found himself wondering in the wilderness. Having what I would call a desert experience. A time of “famine” in the land when everything has dried up. Life sometimes can be a cruel and difficult journey. A journey where often times we find ourselves vulnerable and in need. A time where our strength, our craftiness, our intellect, our efforts are just not enough. No matter how hard we try, no matter how determined we are, we cannot find our way out of the desert. Try as you may nothing seems to be working.

Gods people experienced many “famines” in the land. Many “desert” experiences where they were taken to such extremes that they questioned if God even existed. Perhaps this describes where you are right now. If so let me be the first to give you hope. You are not alone. God does exist and He knows every need you have. If you are having a famine in your life God is just waiting to lead you to the promised land of provision He has for you. A land flowing with milk and honey! Sound to good to be true? Well let’s look at a few men of faith and see how God brought them up and out of “Egypt” and into the promised land.

In the Book of Genesis Ch.12 God instructs Abram to get out of the land he was in and to go to a land where God would show him. Abram wanting to please God and believing that God would bless him, obeyed. Now mind you Abram was doing quite well. He had cattle and sheep, and camels and a huge following of workers and servants. He was quite wealthy and living large at the time. But Abram made the decision to follow God. Not knowing where He was going he gathered up his possessions and family and followers and headed for the promised land!

Not far into the journey something unexpected came along. Gen.12:10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Abram was following God and suddenly, unexpectedly he found himself away from home, in a land where he did not know anybody and was smack dab in the middle of a famine. It wasn’t just any famine it was a “severe” famine. To Abram’s credit he did not turn tail and run back home. Instead he withdrew his quest for Canaan for a time and went down to Egypt for there was plenty of food and water there. And Abram knew it.It was his choice. He knew that there were dangers in Egypt yet he also knew that there would be provision there for his family, servants and his flocks. One could question whether or not Abram lacked the faith to go on trusting God in the famine to provide for him but “do not judge”. We do not know what all the circumstances were. Abram had a great responsibility and the burden of many that he carried with him. The bondage of having great wealth. The heavy burden of having a large family. He made a decision to go where he knew his family, and his people would have what was needed to survive the famine. For that he is to be commended.

Here is Mathew Henry’s commentary on this passage; “Abram’s removal into Egypt, upon occasion of this famine. See how wisely God provides that there should be plenty in one place when there was scarcity in another. We must not expect needless miracles.”

Abram went where the help was available. And help he got. Although Abram failed to trust God totally to provide “protection” for him and his wife while in Egypt, nonetheless he trusted God’s already made provision for His people. That being the fertile land of Egypt that had not experienced the severe famine as in the land of Canaan.

Lesson number one in “Surviving the famine in your life?” Take what is being offered to you. Get help from where help is available. Abram could have acted like a religious zealot and starved his flocks and his people to death while in the famine. “Trusting God.” But instead he humbled himself and took the provisions where God had made them available! He did the practical.

We have most all heard the fictional story of the man who was in the flood. How when the flood was predicted a party was sent out to warn him that a flood was eminent. He refused to leave his home instead trusting that God would save him from the flood. And over and over again he would rather “trust” God to save him rather than get in the boat that God had provided for him and he drowned in the flood. When he finally drowned and went to heaven he asked God why He did not save him? God answered “what do you mean I sent all those people to warn you and even a boat to save you but you would not receive the help I sent you”. If you are in a famine in your life right now. Take the help that God is providing for you. Where is the Egypt you can turn to for provision? Don’t sit around waiting for a miracle when God has already made a way of provision for you.

Sometimes that involves humbling yourself and asking for help! That is exactly what Abram did. Abram had to make a decision. He chose wisely. He put the interest of his family and flock ahead of his own and made sure they were provided for and they were able to continue on in their journey towards the promise land! Do the practical and accept whatever provision God is providing for you! Don’t expect God to a needless miracle.

I would like to pause here for a moment and reflect on a point. Another lesson from Abram’s journey. In Chapter 13 after Abram’s Egypt experience we find that Abram went right back to the very place where he left off his journey. Between Bethel and Ai. Why is this significant? I believe it points to the fact that many of us have our sights set on the promised land and then some terrible “famine” comes along like the recession and economic mess we in America and many other parts of the world are experiencing now and we lose hope. We can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. We think that everything we have worked for has been swallowed up and we give up hope. But what the story tells us is that we will have setbacks on the way. Famines and droughts that come into our lives and slowwww us down from reaching our goals. That is just a part of life! Buttttttttt it is never to late to start over. We just pick up “right where we left off” before the famine hit and continue from there on our journey to the promised land. That is what Abram did and that is what you and I must do as well. Pick up where we left off.

Lesson number 2. on “Surviving the famine in your life?” Pick up where you left off and keep marching towards the promised land! Remember God allows these famines in our lives for a reason. He wants to teach us to trust Him. He uses these difficulties in our lives to build His character in us. He may be humbling you and setting your priorities back on track. We know that “…all things work together for good to those who love God…” Romans 8:28

Whenever God gives a message to be preached it is most always for the preacher first. I would like to share a personal testimony here. About 7-8 years ago I was in full time Christian ministry. I was executive director of a faith based urban ministry in Youngstown, Ohio called the Nehemiah project. God had called me to leave my pastorate in evangelism at my local Church and spearhead this new city wide ministry of helps. It was not my idea. I was very comfortable in my position at the church and loved what I was doing. I really struggled with this decision until our Pastor preached a message “Here I am Lord send me”. I heard God’s voice and said yes, o.k. Lord I’ll do it. For the next year I witnessed miracle after miracle as God continued to provide for our ministry. It was a time of great blessing and reward as I and others learned to trust God and follow His lead in this dynamic and powerful ministry.

I used the book of Nehemiah as my guide for building the ministry. I followed Nehemiah’s steps and made every effort to be an example to my team and to the flock that God had called me to lead. During that year I learned more about trusting God than at any other time of my life. At least so I thought.

Suddenly and without warning {although God had revealed there was a snake in the wood pile}I was asked to step down as executive director of the ministry. I was married and had three small children at the time and this was my only income. In addition I had given my all to the ministry that I so dearly loved. But like it or not I had to step down. Suddenly and without warning a “famine” came into my life. Now mind you while heading up the ministry I trusted God for provision and time and time and again He provided. Sometimes miraculously and others practically. But He always provided our needs. I don’t have time to get into all the ways that God provided for that ministry, that will be for another time. However during that time I walked with God. But I never expected what was coming my way.

Out of nowhere suddenly my ministry, reputation and income was stripped away from me. And with no valid reason given. Only that there were “problems” in the ministry and that the Board felt it was due to my poor leadership. I asked for specifics but they refused to elaborate. I went and got counsel from some of the finest Biblical counselors in the country and they, after hearing both sides of the story, advised me to leave the ministry that I had loved. They felt that there was jealousy on the part of some in the ministry and that they {some on the board} did not have the grit and faith that I had that was necessary to lead this type of ministry!

Yes suddenly I had a “famine” in my own life that shook me to the core. I trusted God while leading that ministry. And He always provided. We did the practical and He did the miraculous. But man got in the way.

I love them and forgive them for what took place but it did not change the fact that I was in a “desert” place. It was one thing to trust God in the ministry it was quite another to learn to trust him out on my own. Away from even those in the Church who I trusted the most! My prayer partners? Suddenly and without warning! With nowhere to go I went back to “Egypt” and began doing landscaping {the practical} to put food on my table. But that is not my promised land.

God called me to be a “fisher of men”. While I have done that over the years while “tent making” {working while ministering the Word}. It is not the same for me. Now I am going back to the place where I started. Back to the place where I pitched my tent between “Bethel and Ai”. Its has been seven or eight years in Egypt now, but that provision seems to be drying up. It’s time to move on, or should I say to go back to “Bethel”. Back to the ministry that God has called me to. Thank you Jesus for the journey.

Lesson 3. on “Surviving the famine in your land” Have faith in God! Never lose sight of the promised land!{His promises}

Gen. 13:14 And the Lord said to Abram, ………lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land that you see I give to you and your descendants forever.

Abram, being a man of faith, never lost sight of the promised land. Yes, even while in Egypt, he knew that when God makes a promise He delivers!

Abram who later became Abraham “the father of many nations,” was certainly not alone in the Bible, as the list of men and women who had faith in God in the midst of some severe famines or droughts in their lives. Far from it.

Consider Daniel in the den with the lions! How about Joseph “the dreamer” who stood on God’s promise that someday He would rule over his brothers, even while he was left for dead in a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned? And I could go on and on. But do not take my word for it.

Listen to what the Word of God says in Hebrews 11 about having faith in God in the midst of difficulties.

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. 3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. 5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he[a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned.”[c] 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

23By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea[d] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[e]

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

In closing we must accept the good times and the bad as a part of life. While none of us would that famines or droughts come into our lives, nonetheless they do! Many of us are in a famine right now. My prayer is that we will “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” {Heb. 12:2} in the midst of the famine in our lives. I thought it a great encouragement to note that when Abram left Egypt the word said that he was “very rich”….in livestock, silver and gold. Pharaoh had treated Abram well while in Egypt. And although there was a severe famine in the land, Abram came out of it in better shape than he went in!

So it is with Jesus. We know the end of the story for all who believe!

John 3:16

1″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Keep your eyes on the promise land. Heaven is our home. God is on the throne. This to shall come to pass!

Three practical lessons for “Surviving the famine in your life.”