HOW TO SURVIVE IN TIMES OF SCARCITY

BY REV (DR) ABRAHAM CHIGBUNDU

MAIN TEXT: Gen. 26:1-26; 8:22; Eccl. 11:4-6)

It takes more than prayer to succeed in times of scarcity. It takes practical steps and an unusual faith to succeed in the midst of scarcity. Things can happen positively to a man of great determination even when every physical condition suggests futility of labour. Famine is a situation of extreme Scarcity of Food and material things. A famine is a period when there is scarcity of food and water; a period when rain refuses to fall; a period when, as a result of the draught, crops dry up and die.

This is a time when any natural man would not like to sow seeds because there is no water to get the ground watered. It is a period when every effort of man is geared towards gathering and collecting and preserving the little that remains – a time of survival of the fittest.

It is a time of choice making, a time of decisions and relocations (Gen. 42)

Whatever choice you make at this crucial moment determines what happens during and after the famine.

“And there was a 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. [2] And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: [3] Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; [4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;” Genesis 26:1-4

When Isaac was about to relocate, he was asked not to go to Egypt. ‘Stay in this land,’ commanded the Lord. He heard the Voice of the Lord. John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” The Lord’s sheep know His Voice.

This was a strange land where his father’s enemies dwelt, and they had closed up his father’s investments – all wells were closed.

“He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” Eccles. 11:4

Isaac saw what others could not see; did what they feared to do, and got what they could not get. Instead of eating up his seeds, he sowed on a dry land, and heaven honoured him.

If you can hear Him and obey Him, you will enjoy the fruit of the land. His Voice makes all the difference!

The widow of Zarephath heard the Voice of the prophet and obeyed him. She survived the famine and entered into surpluses in the time of famine.

Isaac sowed when natural, physical evidences and human reasons considered his actions foolish. People around him considered him to be out of touch with realities.

It takes faith to survive in times like this. This is God’s kind of faith – calling those things that be not as though they were. Faith is acting on what God says

If you do what others are afraid to do, you will encounter what they cannot encounter.

In that same year, Isaac reaped 100%, God blessed him, he waxed great (prospered), he went forward, he grew, he became very great and the Philistines envied him

The Philistines were busy discussing and envying Isaac that they forgot to sow; they failed to find out the secret of his success, instead they went about planning how to bring him down. They never prospered because they fought and hated prosperity; hence, it ran from them.

They closed more wells – his ventures. But the more they did that, the more Isaac went about digging more wells because he had all the resources. He waxed very great in the midst of oppositions. “And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land”. Genesis 26:22. They attacked his ventures until God made room for him. They fought what could have brought them out of their predicament. They fought God’s favour in their land.

This is the result of envy. Envy is a destroyer of potentials.

SIGNS OF ENVY:

1. It makes you to lie against your neighbour

2. It leads you to condemn and criticize what you should have blessed and embraced

3. It will lead you to harbour evil thoughts against your brother

4. It will introduce hatred bitterness and anger in your heart

5. Envy will lead you to kill, either physically like Cain or with your mouth

6. It will lead you to fight God. When you fight a man God has blessed, you
are indirectly fighting God

7. It will lead you to say and do things that will hurt and hunt you throughout your life

8. Envy will destroy your potentials because you will be busy destroying someone’s progress that you will forget that you have what he has. Your potential thus will lie dormant and eventually get destroyed

9. Envy will introduce different demons into your life because it pushes you to create open doors for demons by your actions

10. Envy will hinder your progress and prosperity. The Philistines never prospered; they were so busy destroying Isaac’s wells that they forgot to dig theirs, yet there was no water in the entire land

11. It will make you to hate and drive away your helper in life

12. It will make a thief out of you because you will claim what does not belong to you; you will take your brother’s portion and add to yours

13. Envy will eventually demote and destroy you