Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. Genesis 26:3
Living in a place that is harsh and barren is very difficult. It raises the desire to move away to somewhere that is easier and can provide more. New locations often look greener and better than where one is, so many will pick up and move without a second thought.
The land that Isaac was living in came under a severe famine. God tells him to not move down to Egypt but to stay in that land where He will be with him and bless him and his descendants just as He promised Abraham.
Throughout the world, there are places that often go without rain for an extremely long time. When that occurs, the plants are unable to grow properly, and things die off. If the dryness occurs long enough, famine hits the land, and people begin to starve and need to move out to someplace better.
In life, people are often in a famine for real life. They are quick to run to a new place, seeking the good life. Instead of finding life, they often turn to death. Drugs, sex, entertainment, and other things try to fill their life, but leave them empty and dead.
Rather than fleeing to those things, people need to stay and find God. He can provide more than the Egypts of life will ever provide, even in a severe famine. God provides an abundant life that this world will never be able to provide in the place filled with a famine for His word and truth.
You will have times of famine in your life that are brought on by the sin of this world. The world will tempt you to flee to its ways of living to bring fulfillment to your life. Turn to God and find your needs met in Him. In that dark place you are living in, God can bring forth an abundant life that the world cannot give you. It is better to live in the place of famine with God than in the midst of the pleasures of this world without Him. He can bless you far more than the world will ever do.
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will live where God is; that you will be blessed with an abundant life through Jesus; that God will show you where to live for Him; and that you will not flee to the world during a famine for life.
Purchase Tom’s New Daily Devotional Here!
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Insights from Tom
