A Famine in the Promised Land

A Famine in the Promised Land

Life was going so well for Isaac. He had a bride who he loved, he was living in the land God had promised. He had 2 sons, a double blessing! He was living the dream, but then God interrupted his dream with a famine... in the land of his God given inheritance. What do you do when there is a famine in the promised land? Where do you go when the place that God has led you has dry and barren earth that crumbles in your weary hand? Your belly is getting thinner and you are longing for some of that delicious red stew that cost Esau his birthright. Why would God lead you to a barren place?

God does brings folks he loves to places of deep longing and real need. He does it over and over again in scripture. He gives hopes and dreams and leads to a place of desolation. Isaac had already walked through the pain of his bride not conceiving for the first 20 years of their marriage. He pleaded with God to give his beloved a son and God came through in double fashion. Now it was a famine, which his father had experienced in the past, but Isaac had not. He had only know the plenty of the land, not it's insufficiency.

I wonder if I can even fathom what famine would look like. I am thinking about how sad I would be if Little Rosies or Tazikis closed, but I don't think that really compares to famine ;). Famine in our world would be when God has given you a longing for something but he is making you wait to see it come to fruition. He does that... He has done that in me many times. Today my longing is for God to complete our family. I believe that God is going to give Zack siblings. I am believing for another son and I even have a name picked out for him. I am believing God will allow us to adopt children who need a Mom and Dad who will love them well, and that God will give us the grace to be that Mom and Dad. I have struggled with God over being able to conceive children. It was 3 years of marriage before Zack was placed in my womb. It has been 3 years since Zack was born. I have a God given dream for more children. But the waiting sometimes feels like it is killing me and the weight of the desire presses heavy on my chest. We went through a several rounds of fertility treatments with shots and everything, spending about $1000 of God's money with no baby to show for it. That was tough because it was a road we felt like God was leading us to go down, so at the end when we saw the road come to no baby I was pretty crushed and confused. The desire to have for children had completely taken over my mind and had become an idol. I wanted to make it happen more than I wanted Jesus. It is hard for me to even write that out. I have been avoiding this blog. I don't want to admit even to myself that barrenness had become a heavy burden that I was trying to carry myself and occasionally asking Jeff to carry.

Last month, when our regimen of shots and IUI did not work, Jeff and I began a fast. I needed to lay my heavy burden at Jesus feet. I needed to remember that he is the reason I live and breathe. He is the giver of all good things, even himself. Today my heart is so much better. Jesus has drawn me closer to his heart. I am at peace, even in a land where the ground seems cracked in the sun, I am content. I had to remember that God has been faithful. He will continue to be faithful. He has sweet plans for my family.

Isaac was tempted to go to Egypt when the famine came. God intervened and spoke to him Let that sink into you heart. God spoke to Isaac. He spoke, to a man, words of comfort and blessing. God reminded Isaac of the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac's daddy. He said “Don't go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. Stay here in this land and I'll be with you and bless you. I'm giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.... All the earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants.” (Gen 26:2-5) God reminded Isaac of the promise.

Dear friend, God will lead you to places of wilderness, bitter water, struggle, drought, famine, and even sickness. He will lead you to places where you have to cry out to him because there is no where else you could possibly turn. He is not leading you there because you have sinned or because he is trying to exasperate you. He is leading you there because he trusts you with that struggle. He trusts you, that you can walk with him through everything he brings to you. He trusts Himself, that He is faithful to provide. God brought Isaac abundant blessing only 10 verses after he reminded him of the promise. Isaac got so rich the people around him were jealous of his stuff. Walk faithfully with God through the darkness of the night so that when daylight comes, and God brings his Son to shine through the clouds and opens up the heavens of blessing for you, you can stand, or fall on your face before him, and let his warmth soak deeply into your soul. You can receive the abundant blessing of God. You can have that breakthrough you have been longing for. When you walk through the infertility, singleness, joblessness, poverty, loneliness, marriage struggles, remember the promises of God. He has promised to never leave you or forsake you. He has promised to complete the good work he started in you. He has promised that he knows the plans he has for you. They are for your good, to give you hope and a future. I have a future in Christ. I have a present in Christ. I have a past in Christ. He is blessing. His light will shine in your dark night.