Years of plenty, years of famine

The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. Genesis 41: 53 – 54

It is an unfortunate fact of life that Christians are very bad at storing up in the good times of plenty so they have something to draw on in the famines or difficult times when a crisis hits. There is a tendency when things are going well to cease to prioritise our Christian walk. It feels like we are doing fine and so we no longer prioritise Bible reading, prayer and church attendance. Very quickly other things rush in to fill the void and we no longer always make time for spiritual things and whilst life is trundling along happily that is fine.

Then the wheels fall off and a crisis hits and we are in famine and have nothing to draw on. A time of crisis is not the best moment to start to rebuild our walk with God. Our trouble may be all consuming and what we need at that moment is to be drawing on all the good things we have stored away in the good times.

These will be the times to remind ourselves of God’s amazing love and faithfulness not to worry about whether God still loves us. By the way He still does!  A time of crisis will be a time to go back to our favourite Bible verses to find strength and solace, not a time to be desperately trying to remember that half forgotten verse that we liked. The difficult times will also be when we draw strength and comfort from our Godly friendships formed during the good times. Just as Jonathan helped David find strength in the Lord (I Samuel 23: 16), so we too need to be available to both give and receive that kind of friendship and they are forged during the times of plenty.

If at the moment life is going well, store up as much as you can in terms of relationship with God and others. Make a note of encouraging Bible verses and things God has spoken to you about. File away answers to prayer and great testimonies you have heard. Make a store of things to draw on so when the difficult times come as they surely will, you have much to feed on during the spiritual famine.

If however things are a bit hard at the moment and you feel you have little to draw on, prioritise God, read your Bible, seek him because he will be found and he will comfort you and strengthen you. Seek out your Christian friends and re-establish your friendships if they have lapsed and learn from the experience.

God never gives up on us, no matter how lax we have been and He is always there during the good and difficult times.