Elisha said to the woman, ‘Go away with your family…The Lord has decreed a famine for seven years.’ She and her family went away to the land of the Philistines. At the end of the seven years she appealed to the king for her house and land. He said to the official, ‘Give back everything that belonged to her, including all income from her land from the day she left the country until now.’ II Kings 8:1-6 (shortened)
Here are the thoughts I’ve gathered all week:
1) Israel experienced a famine while the surrounding areas had plenty, perhaps in judgment of the nation’s unrepentant sins.
When we have wandered away, God is known for using kindness to bring us back. He also uses hardships. Hardships can strip us of our wants and lead us to our need of God.
The flower in the desert opens its petals to whatever moisture is available. When God is our only source of strength, we turn our faces to Him in adoration, and we blossom.
2) The famine wasn’t caused by the woman. Yet her life was turned upside down.
The famines of my life (trials, hardships or bad choices of others) can turn my world upside down. God is still my All in All.
I once saw a person sadly shake his head and say, “That guy is a shell of a man.”
The words were in reference to a person who made some foolish decisions, and his life was in shambles. I knew the man. I had heard his story. However, I saw something very different.
I saw a man, stripped of everything he once held dear. Now, he was totally sold on God and His provisions. His previous poor choices led him into his core where God lived in all His glory. Perhaps, he HAD to go through that famine in order to have it replaced with the plenty of God.
Sometimes, we have hope of finding our heart’s desire through earthly means, and then we find ourselves in a self-made “famine.” In reality, God can use these times IN the famine to bring us back to Himself.
As a wife, I have followed my husband to ends of the earth (not always perfectly), and he has done the same for me. We both have experienced discomfort because of each other’s or someone else’s choices. Though, we warn or question when we see a red flag, in the end, the consequences of another person’s decisions can still affect us.
Sometimes, the bad choices lead to the right outcome, the need to hit rock bottom. When people make decisions in which we become the recipient of uncomfortable consequences (exclude all immoral or abusive situations in which we should flee) it is important to remember that God is still our All in All.
We warned them, they did not heed and we couldn’t stop the avalanche. God still uses such matters to refine them (boss, husband, wife, teen) and us.
3) The woman was warned ahead of time (through Elisha’s kindness) about the famine. She was given a chance to move away and live a plentiful life, free from the suffering that would accompany her people.
Philistia was a godless place. Yet for her, it would be a place of God’s bountiful provision.
At the beginning, this new place must have felt strange and difficult. Yet, I imagine her daily reminding herself of what life could have been had she failed to leave home. How thankful she must have felt even in the hardships of a different culture. She was alive!
I see the need in my life to remind myself of God’s blessings, especially when everything feels so foreign to me and out of my control.
The woman must have learned contentment and patience, similar to Joseph who waited on the will of God in an Egyptian prison. Perhaps Joseph learned humility and wisdom in a way he couldn’t have learned in his own country.
It’s odd to think that the woman thrived better away from her familiar surroundings than in the place of comfort she had known and loved.
Sometimes I am driven away from what I know in order to receive good things from God’s hand.
4) I honestly don’t know the state of the woman’s heart when she had to move away. But, a broken heart should never dictate our decision to obey or disobey God.
Surely, she was sad. Yet she completely heeded Elisha’s warning and packed up and left her land.
In response to a calling we may say, “I don’t want to. Just the thought of it makes me cry.” “I don’t think I could survive this.” “I’m not strong enough.” “My heart is breaking; please don’t make me!”
What faith did it take for the woman to leave? What faith does it take for me to do things I don’t want to do, even as the tears run down my face? God’s good is rarely easy.
5) She went to a land of plenty where all her needs were met.
God is my plenty. He gives me all I need, not only to survive but to thrive.
Then with His provisions intact in the depths of my heart, I have what it takes to share my breath, energy, and time with those in the famine. I can also share Him.
6) Sometime during the seven years in Philistia, the woman must have reached out and made friends. Perhaps she learned to cook new meals from the local women and scrub her clothes in different ways. However, she would have hated some of the local religious beliefs, especially if they went against everything she knew about God.
I’ve heard people say concerning their job or pets, “It’s a love/hate relationship.” They hate certain aspects of the situation, but are happy with the wonderful, lovable things.
There are always people or circumstances in our lives, for whatever reason, with whom we have a love/hate relationship. We may not like certain things about the person, but God still says, “Go!” So…we love them, even though they feel to us like a famine!
(“I don’t like this or that about you, but I love you.”) This makes such a difference in how we interact with everyone around us.
We are not called to every famine. In fact, in some famines, we are led to flee, as the woman did. The famines God calls us to won’t always be who or what we like but who we’re called to serve and what we’re called to do.
We may not feel supported or loved by those people in our callings.
Not everyone is going to like us, either.
The situation may be about friendship or needs. It may, however, be about something completely different.
Still, God is working in the circumstances. He is providing for all concerned, and all of us are being refined.
7) Since famines come in all shapes and sizes, it is possible for another person’s famine to become my famine. It happens when I give into despair and dry emptiness. It happens when I don’t recognize the bounty God has provided IN the land of Philistia where HE has led me. However, His directives are good. They keep me safe.
The woman could have lived her seven years in a self-made famine even though she had plenty all around her. She could have whined and complained about her lot in life. She could have put off finding shelter and food, thinking she could go back to her own land tomorrow.
Her new friends worshiped idols and were void of the one true God. Their lives would have held much darkness. If she was dried up, she could have bought into their spiritual famines, even in this land of plenty, or she could have lived within God’s plenty and become a light to all round her!
I have a tendency to push GOD out of the way in order to get close to what my flesh labels my land of plenty. After all, if I can be king or lord over my life and do what I want, I can be happy. Surely, then I will feel full. I long for what brings me comfort. I long to be filled up the way I was filled in the past. I want to go back. I want, I want, I want!
MY famine is defined as “life has to be a certain way (my way) in order to be happy.”
*One key to unlock the true plentiful life is to ask what plenty is right in front of me, no matter the situation. If I don’t intentionally seek out the blessings of my day, I can dry up without knowing it.
*Key #2 – It is important to make myself constantly aware of famines within and without, so that I can find my true source of sustenance.
*Another key is to ask how I might serve others without being drawn into their famines.
*The last key for now – Famines (mine or other’s), wherever they come from, must be met with preparation using the armor of God. It’s why I stay in God’s word every day, without fail. It’s why I stay in prayer in this relationship that is the most important of my life.
8) There was nothing the woman could do about her property while she lived in Philistia. I don’t know if she worried about her previous home or not. I do know that she had to help herself emotionally, mentally, and physically to be able to for forward during those seven years and keep her sanity.
I have times I simply have to trust God with my life and move on in joy knowing that He has this.
9) The woman did not ask the king for her property until she returned to her country. The famine was over and now arose a new problem: someone had taken possession of her home and land.
Satan is a hard taskmaster who tries to steal my property. What property has he taken? What is he trying to take from me, now? To whom shall I turn to get it back?
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
When the woman came to the king and asked for her land, not only did he provide her request, he also provided the income her land accumulated during the years of her absence.
That takes my breath away! God provides before the famine, during the famine, and after the famine.
For some, like the woman, the provision is shelter, food and water which look and feel good.
For others, the provision has more to do with deeper lessons learned about life. That may not look or feel good, but it is still good.
And sometimes, the famine has nothing to do with those in trouble and more to do with God teaching us to leave our comfort of plenty to help those without comfort, even though it cannot be returned. That is also good.
God supplies what we need most. And this provision doesn’t always match our expectations. We can trust Him with everything.
Lord of Plenty, when I feel empty keep my eyes on You. When I am called to love the unlovable, guide my heart and my attitude to realize how blessed I am to be able to give. In all situations, help me to see you and know that You, alone, are my all in all. In Jesus name, Amen.
Search me, Oh God, and know my heart Psalm 139:23 (ASV) 