CHOOSING FAITH IN THE MIDST OF FAMINE
Genesis 26:1-13
INTRODUCTION:
Most of you are probably familiar with the historic drought and Dust Bowl that struck the United States during the 1930s. It came on the heels of the Roaring Twenties—a decade marked by prosperity and growth as a nation!
But in 1929, the stock market crashed, plunging the nation into the Great Depression. And shortly after, a devastating drought hit the Great Plains. And for several years, the rains failed to come. Crops withered, farmland dried up, and relentless dust storms swept across the region. What had once been a land of abundance became a place of hardship and struggle.
And I tell you that, because there are times in life, when famines strike, and questions arise. But I want you to know, it’s possible to CHOOSE FAITH IN THE MIDST OF FAMINE!
We’ll, there’s a similar story told in Genesis 26. If you have your Bible, look there with me.
As Genesis 26 opens, it introduces us to a man named Isaac, who is standing in the midst of a famine. You might recognize his name — because he’s the son of the great patriarch Abraham. Isaac was literally the child of promise — a testimony of God’s faithfulness.
But at this point in his story, Isaac was an grown man with a wife and family, and flocks, and herds, and all the responsibilities that go with that. And as this chapter begins, he’s uncertain about his future and wondering what to do about the famine.
Apparently, he was considering packing everything up and moving away from the land God had given his father (the land of Canaan/ the Promised Land). And was considering a move to Egypt.
And with that in mind — follow along as I read. Beginning with verse 2. It says:
2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
That last line is remarkable to me…it says, “Isaac stayed in Gerar.”
It’s remarkable, because nothing had changed. The famine of verse 1 was still going on. The ground was still dry. Dust was still blowing. Fields were still empty. Resources were still thin. Water was still not flowing — and, Egypt was still a possibility. Nothing had changed — except for one thing, God had spoken! And so, WITHOUT DELAY, Isaac obeyed.
Faith in God isn’t formed by the creeds we profess or the ideas we hold in theory; faith is forged in our obedience to God’s Word.
So in the time we have left, I want to unpack this story and share a few thoughts with you about choosing faith in the midst of famine.
It begins with a decision every believer must make…to:
1. TRUST GOD IN THE HARD PLACE.
As we’ve already discovered, Genesis 26 opens in the midst of a famine. And that’s not incidental. It’s the reality of life. All of us at some point in life go through hard things.
But what makes this famine so significant is that it was happening to Isaac. Because he was the child of promise. He lived his entire life connected to God in faith. God had called his father to follow Him, and had promised the land of Canaan as his inheritance. And yet, now it was that land that was causing Him pain.
Sometimes we wrongly assume that saying yes to God means life will get easier — that accepting Christ, being saved, and following Him somehow exempts us from hardship and struggle.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches. God’s presence doesn’t exempt us from difficulty; but it does assure us we will never face it alone.
In Matthew 28:20 Jesus said,
“I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
What a great promise. While hard times may come — God has promised to always with us. And sometimes, God uses the hard times and difficult places to test our faith.
But tests aren’t designed to humiliate or fail you, they’re designed to reveal what you’ve learned. And for Isaac, this was a test. God was giving him an opportunity to grow and put His trust in Him. While Isaac had inherited a strong testimony from Abraham, he still needed to learn to trust God for himself. He needed to know, first hand, that the God of Abraham was also the God of Isaac.
And that needs to happen in every one of our lives. And maybe that’s where some of you find yourselves today. Maybe you’re in a place of transition, walking through a dry season, or a hard season, or a moment of opportunity…and you’re trying to understand where God is in the middle of it.
— We’ll, don’t mistake a hard place for a hopeless place.
— Don’t assume your difficulty means that God has departed.
Because sometimes, hard places are what God uses to define our faith. Sometimes they’re the places where trust is tested, and obedience is developed. So I challenge you, trust God in the midst of your hard place. Because He’s faithful. And He’s present. And He won’t abandon you where He has called you to go.
But maybe you’re wondering, “How do I do that?”
We’ll, I think you begin by naming the hard place in your life. Be honest with God. But refuse to give into despair. Pray and tell Him how you’re feeling. Tell him, “Lord, things are hard right now. And I don’t understand this season, but I trust You in it.” Choose to trust Him!
Then take the next step of obedience He has put in front of you. Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep giving. Keep showing up. Keep doing what God has called you to do.
Faith is not proven by escaping the hard place; it is proven by trusting God while you’re still in it.
The second thing I want to say to you from this story is this:
2. LOOK TO GOD’S WORD FOR DIRECTION.
When hard times come, or dry seasons blow in, when challenging moments show up at your door — look to God and His Word for direction.
I have no doubt that Isaac’s mind was filled with questions when the famine began. As a man, a husband and leader of his home, he would have immediately began to think through the problem and try to come up with a good response to the challenge before him. He probably wondered: What should he do, and where should he go? And, How would he provide for his household?
His first response was to consider going to Egypt.
From a human perspective, Egypt probably made a lot of sense. It was connected to the Nile River, which meant it had water, food, and resources — even when surrounding lands were suffering. So when famine hit, Egypt looked practical. It looked responsible. It looked like supply, security, and immediate relief.
More than that — Egypt was the choice his father made in a very similar situation. Many years earlier, during a different famine, his father packed everything up and caravanned to Egypt. And there he found help. And no doubt, that story had been told through the years. So, when Isaac faced a famine, his first idea was to head to Egypt. It sounds like a good idea. But here’s the thing…it wasn’t God’s idea.
Look with me again at verse 2. In that very moment that Isaac was trying to come up with a good idea, God showed up, and spoke up. Genesis 26:2 says,
“And the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.’”
So, Isaac thought Egypt might be the answer, but God said it wasn’t. So, while it might have been a good-idea — it wasn’t God’s idea.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have one GOD IDEA than a hundred GOOD IDEAS.
Because, God’s plans are always better than mine. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God says:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And for Isaac. God wanted to show him that His way was better. And what He could provide for him (there in Gerar), was far better that anything else he might find in Egypt.
God was teaching Isaac to never make his decisions based in fear and scarcity (or even familiarity),
Isaac needed more than a familiar pattern. He needed a fresh word from the Lord.
And that is important because faith does not always look the same from one season to the next. For Abraham, faith meant leaving his country. For Isaac, faith meant staying where he was. So the issue was not really about staying or going. The issue was trust and obedience.
Faith listens for the voice of God, receives the promise of God, and obeys the direction of God.
In verse 3, God said,
“Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you.”
That is such a powerful promise. God did not merely say, “I will bless you.” He said, “Stay here, and I will bless you here.” So the test for Isaac wasn’t if he believed God was able to take care of him. It was whether he had the faith to believe that God could take care of him THERE (in Gerar), in the midst of the sand, and in that place where he was facing the hardship. The test was whether he believed God was able to produce blessing in the midst of the famine.
And that is the question for you and me as well. Do we really believe God is able to provide for us right where we are — in the middle of our difficulty, uncertainty, and hardship?
Because there is always an Egypt somewhere. There is always an easier option, a quicker solution, a place that looks more promising than the one we are in. But not every open door is God’s direction. Not every opportunity is God’s will. And not every good idea is a God idea.
That is why Isaac needed more than an option; he needed a word from the Lord. He needed to know what God was saying before he decided where he was going.
And the same is true for us. When famine comes, our greatest need is not necessarily a change of scenery. Our greatest need is a clear word from God. And the best place to discover that is in His Word.
But we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us, leads us, and has promised to guide us.
So, before you make a move, make space to hear from God. Open His Word. Pray for wisdom. Seek godly counsel. And ask yourself honestly, “Is this fear leading me, or is this faith obeying God?”
And then, when God speaks, obey what He says.
That is what Isaac had to do. God not only told him where to stay; God gave him a promise to stand on: “I will be with you and will bless you.”
In other words, Isaac’s life was not governed by the famine around him, but by the promise spoken over him. If Isaac only looked at the land, he saw famine. But if Isaac listened to the Lord, he heard promise.
And sometimes, that is exactly where faith has to make its stand. The famine may be real, but it is not ultimate. The pressure may be real, but it is not sovereign. The uncertainty may be real, but it does not get the final word.
God has spoken, and faith learns to let what God has said become louder than what the famine is saying.
So don’t allow the pressure of your circumstances to choose your path for you. Never let fear lead you somewhere God has not sent you. Don’t assume the easiest option is always the best option. And don’t move simply because Egypt looks better.
His voice carries His promises. And whatever God promises, God is faithful to perform.
So anchor your obedience in the promises of God.
And how do you do that?
Again, look to His Word. The Bible contains thousands of promises from God to His people. Bible scholars estimate there are more than 7,000 promises in God’s Word to you. Think about that! That’s a reminder that when we need direction, God has not left us guessing. He has spoken, and His promises are still true today.
So, find the promise of God that speaks to your situation and hold onto it. Write it down. Pray it. Speak it over your heart. Let what God has said become louder than what the famine of your life is saying.
Well, the last thing I want to say from this passage is this — faith demands that you:
3. SOW WHERE GOD HAS PLACED YOU.
Genesis 26:12 says,
“And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him.”
That phrase, “in that land,” is worth holding onto. Isaac did not sow in Egypt. He did not wait for conditions to improve, for the famine to lift, or for the ground to look more promising. He sowed in the land where God had told him to stay.
He did not simply remain in the land. He sowed in it.
There is a difference between staying and sowing. Many people stay physically while quitting spiritually.
But Isaac put seed into dry ground, that looked unlikely to produce, all because his confidence was in God…and not in the condition of the soil.
So what does that look like in our lives. Well, I think it looks like faithfulness. We keep using what God has given us even when it looks pointless.
So we keep praying in dry seasons. And we keep serving when it’s hard. And we keep obeying when we don’t understand everything. And we keep doing our part by putting seeds in the ground — not because the ground looks good, but because God is faithful.
Notice again, verse 12 says,
“The Lord blessed him.”
And that’s the key. Isaac sowed, but God supplied the increase.
Hear me today, there’s absolutely no famine that has the power to cancel God’s promises in your life. While dry places may be a part of your story, they are not your whole story. So don’t give up faith. Keep trusting.
And sow where God has placed you.
Don’t merely occupy a place; cultivate it. Don’t simply remain there; sow there with faith. Put into the ground what God has placed in your hand, and trust Him with the harvest. Because faithfulness today will lead to fruitfulness tomorrow.
CONCLUSION
Well, Genesis 26 begins with famine — but it does not end there. That is not just Isaac’s story. It can be yours too, if you’ll choose faith in the midst of your famine.
I want to remind you, the season may be hard, but God is faithful.
The place you’re standing maybe be dry and full of doubts. Trust God anyway. Because God is with you. And, He is greater than any drought, or hardship, or difficulty. And you can trust Him with your life.
CLOSING PRAYER
Well, before we close, let me say this: You’ve heard a lot today about God’s faithfulness— and His promises. But all of that hinges on your willingness to trust Him. And the first step of faith is surrendering your life to Christ.
If you’ve never done that, or if you need to make things right with God today, I invite you to pray with me:
Heavenly Father, I admit that I have sinned and chosen my way over Yours. Today, I turn from my sin and put my faith in Jesus. I believe He is the Son of God, that He died for my sins and rose again. Forgive me. Save me. Make me new. Let Your Spirit live in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
If you just prayed that prayer — I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! That’s the greatest decision you’ll ever make.
And now, for the rest of us…let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, we need You. Teach us to live by faith, especially in seasons that feel dry and uncertain. When life is hard and the ground seems barren, help us to trust You. When easier options look attractive, help us to hear Your voice clearly and obey You fully. Anchor our hearts in Your promises. Give us the courage to stay where You have called us, to sow what You have placed in our hands, and to believe that Your presence is enough. Remind us that famine is not final and that Your faithfulness is greater than every dry season we face. In Jesus’ name, amen.