Posted: 10/16/2009 at 3:25pm | IP Logged

A Famine in the Land

A friend of mine from Portugal sent me a message a few weeks ago, then the Lord began to speak to me through Genesis 26 through the story of Isaac and the famine in the land.

I want to encourage you! "Don't go down..." Let me explain. Isaac was living in a foreign place, not his own home town. He was living in Canaan and there was a famine in Canaan. People were leaving—you can't blame them for that, your instinct is to kick into survival mode and go where you need to go and do what you need to do.

Isaac wanted to go back to his place—he wanted to go home to Mesopotamia. But God spoke to him and said, "Don't go down, stay where you are." That's a frustrating thing to say to someone when it all looks like nothing. Like when Moses was trapped at the Red Sea with the ocean in front of him and Pharaoh and all his army behind him. God said, "STAND STILL." Huh? I would have thought God would say, "Run for your life", and I am sure Moses felt like yelling that to everyone.

Not only did God tell Isaac, "Don't go down, stay where you are", He said, "Sow seeds and I will bless you." So Isaac stayed where he was, and it looked like NOTHING. No fruit that you could see because there was a FAMINE. Famine means "extreme scarcity of food." Isaac had to choose to believe the word of the Lord, over everything he could see with his eyes.

It looked like nothing. It smelled like nothing. It sounded like nothing. There was nothing because there was a FAMINE. But he started to sow and behave as if everything in the garden was lovely. I can hear the voices coming at him, can't you?

"What are you doing?"
"Why aren't you leaving?"
"Why aren't you going to get food?"
"Why aren't you going home? Are you crazy? You can't stay here."

You know what? Isaac just carried on as usual. You know why? Because he didn't get his information from the situation; he got his information from the ultimate Informer—the Holy Spirit.

Are there any negative situations you passed through? Any negative words people have spoken to you? If you are near a town where there are thieves and robbers and all kinds of bad stuff, I would say, "Don't go there."

I was in an area recently near Perth, Australia. The lady I was with said, "This is a nice area in the daytime, but at night you can't come here because you will more than likely get robbed. There are bad things that happen here." Well, knowing that, would you go for a stroll? Go for a visit? Of course not.

But sometimes you will visit an old wound, consult an old negative feeling, or touch base with a mindset that you know is NOT going to help you. If you get delivered, don't go and visit the old hangouts in your mind. They won't help you, I promise. Listen to that Holy Ghost Informer.

Isaac prospered in this place. You know what? The land couldn't contain the famine AND the man of God, so the famine had to go! He grew and he had herds and flocks. It says in the Bible that he had "a hundredfold" (verse 12). The Philistines got upset because he was getting too big, so they told him to leave, so he did. He found some old wells in the Valley of Gerar and dug them up again. He had to fight for two of them, but the third one was easy; it was called "Rehoboth" which means "no striving."

When he left, the Philistines discovered they lost a source of blessing, then they wanted him to come back. "We do have an agreement after all," they said (verse 28). Even your enemies recognize the hand of God on your life. Even if they don't like you, they wish they had what you have.

The Voice of the Lord is Your Key

It's the voice of the Lord that is your key. He knows when it's time to move on and when to stay put. You will be blessed when you are tuned into the Blesser. You are not called to go by what you see or hear or feel. You are called to do what your heavenly Father tells you to do. We are not to be led by circumstances or situations, but by the Spirit of God—His voice. We live by faith.

When we lived years ago in Orlando, we had a clear word to leave the city and move on. Trouble was, the same heavenly voice didn't tell us where to move on to. Do you know He will give you clear instructions if you listen? We said, "Ok then, we will move on, but there are a few details we need help with."

For example, "How do we sell the house?" It was quite a big deal because the area was very overbuilt at the time with many new houses and various builders were making great offers, making houses like ours very hard to sell. The Holy Spirit said, "Go buy $200 worth of brightly colored flowers; put them in the front yard and put out a 'For Sale by Owner' sign."

A few weeks later, a man called and wanted to come and see the house. When he came, his wife said, "We weren't really looking in this area, but every time we drove around here we
noticed those flowers." The flowers had drawn their attention to the house. There are many supernatural events connected with this story which I won't go into now, but the point is:

Listen—whatever He says to you, do it. He doesn't leave you guessing; He's your Dad and He talks to His children. YOU can hear His voice. Keep your antenna up.

Kathie Walters
Good News Ministries
Email: Kathiewalters@mindspring.com