BY GREG CRUM

“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…Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.” Genesis 26:1-2 & 12-14

An entire nation envious of one man? One man that thrived in raising crops and herds right in the middle of a regional famine? How could this be unless the Lord Himself was actively involved in providing for his servant? God was, and that’s how! 

In Genesis 26 we read of a world in the midst of economic upheaval. Most of the world that that passage describes was agricultural, and a famine was a death sentence to the economy and to the people in that region—quite literally! Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves, much like Isaac and his family, in the throes of economic chaos. The price of goods and services are at all-time highs (at least in our lifetimes), the supply of goods is low, the workforce is depleted, and according to the pundits of the world, it’s only going to get worse. If we took for face value the way things looked economically right now, we’d all have a lot to worry about! If the dollar was our God, Wall Street was our temple, and financial analysts were our preachers and prophets, we’d all do well to horde up every resource we could get our hands on and batten down the hatches until they said it was safe to come out from our damp, dark caves. Sadly, this is the strategy that many believers are employing in their lives right now, but this shouldn’t be the mindset of a believer.