No recession in God’s economy
There was a famine (today we would call it a recession or financial crisis)…
The story begins with a famine in the days of Isaac. Whilst there was a famine in Gerar where Isaac was living, the metropolis of Egypt was still prospering. Isaac was contemplating going where there was better market opportunities. Sound familiar?
That’s when God intervened …
Genesis 26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.
12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy 14 for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
We can draw out some great lessons from this.
The external circumstance does not determine our future. God sets our future course. It may be the most counter-intuitive circumstance and entirely the wrong market conditions, but when God has a word for us it will never fail. It will be the Proceeding Word that sets us on our way.
Isaac stayed in the land (v6). He chose to obey. Obedience is always the key. There have been times in my own life when I was living and working in Manchester that I felt drawn to the “shinning lights” of London. Yet God’s word for me, like Isaac, was to stay where I was. I will tell you that obedience is tough - because it involves denying my own will and submitting to His will. But obedience is always rewarded.
Isaac sowed in the land (v12). Not only did he stay, but he sowed. He invested because of the Word of the Lord when it was irrational to do so. One does not plant seed in the grown when there is no water to irrigate the land and cause growth. But there was a river of life flowing that could not be seen in the natural, bringing life and abundance to the seed sown.
Isaac reaped a hundredfold (v12). This is the same phrase that Jesus used in the parable of the sower. Mark 4:8 “Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” This speaks to the quality of the soil in Isaac’s heart.
They say more millionaires are made during times of recession than times of prosperity. I’m not here to tell you that economic cycles do not exist (the former UK Chancellor Gordon Brown famously tried to declare the end of the boom bust cycle through good governance … before the world hit the 2008 recession).
Instead, I firmly believe that the Word of God is able to lift us out of any economic circumstance and cause us to prosper. His Word sustains us. We do not live by bread alone (the natural provision), but by His Word.