The Word of God talks about famines that took place throughout history approximately one hundred and six times.
They are a part of life and have occurred since Adam was expelled from the Garden.
For example-

Genesis 12:10-11
Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Genesis 26:1-3
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. The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. "Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.

Genesis 41:56-57
When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Genesis 42:5
So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

Ruth 1:1
Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land.

Acts 17:27-30
Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

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God’s people were in those famines and He did not take them out of them! They went through them as well as the heathen. All of God’s people had to deal with these famines just as everyone else on earth had to, but from a different perspective. The difference is that God's people have a covenant with Him, that others do not.
Many Christians forget this and when hard times come, they do not cope well for many varied reasons I will not go into now. Most of them are due to a lack of knowing who they are and their Kingdom rights, privileges, responsibilities and obligations. You might think that you are the only person on earth who is going through what you are, but those tests, trials, temptations and difficulties are common to all men everywhere. See 1 Corinthians 10:13.
We tend to think that difficulties and problems never come our way, but they do! Life is sometimes cruel.
The difference is that we have a God who cares for us just as much in the good times as in the bad times and that He has cut a covenant with us that is ratified by the precious blood of Jesus.

Jesus did not tell us that we would be taken out. We will leave here one day of course, but until we go, we are here for a purpose. You and I are here to represent Jesus. We are His ambassadors. We are the ones to reveal the Kingdom of God, which is the way God does things to those who do not know. But you and I cannot do that if we do not know it ourselves!
We are on the world, but we are not part of the world system and we are all God has to reveal the difference.

The Lord said-
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33. (one translation adds...for you).

What therefore is a famine?   
The Hebrew word, ra`ab is translated as hunger, or famine in the Old Testament. The Greek word limos also gives the idea of scarcity of food. Limos comes from the Greek root word leipo that means to leave, to fail or be absent; be destitute, wanting, lack etc.
 
If famine represents a time of destitution and lack, there are signs that we are headed into the greatest famine of all time. This famine is not about food or drink, because enough food exists to feed the entire planet.

In some countries, these famines are real, but it need not be so. Those in high places who are manipulated by the wicked one, know this. They inflate prices; create artificial shortages; run scare mongering campaigns to instill fear and control people. They embarked on various programs to tell us that an ice age was coming. They now tell us that there is a global warming affect. They say that oil is running short, so that they can manipulate the prices of a barrel of oil, but God made enough of everything for as long as it is needed folks!

God's people live here too, but they need to learn that their supply is not of this earth, but from God's storehouse. This is no religious cliché but truth that is not always taught and practiced.

Look for a moment at Isaac.
Genesis 26:1 states that there was a great famine in the land. Isaac was adversely affected and went to Gerah and the Lord told him not to go to Egypt.
Here is a key to how it works. Isaac took steps and God instructed him what to do, which was not to go to Egypt. We know that Egypt represents sin and the world system, right?
I put it to you that God was telling him not to rely on the world system.
If we are not to rely on the world system, what then do we do?
The U.S. Economy is trillions of dollars in debt.
Countries like Greece are in financial crisis. Spain could follow suit. Other countries are already there.
Many other countries give no aid whatsoever to their citizens.
Other countries like Nepal have had natural disasters that have catastrophic affect on people and they might not ever recover. It is sad.

What does one do therefore, when things seem to be falling apart at the seams?

The best and possibly the only thing to do is to seek God and find out what to do in your own situation, because He and He alone has the answer. He can tell you where to go, what to do and when to do it, so when He gives you the answer—do what He tells you.
Isaac was in the middle of a great famine and was being affected just like everyone else—but he had a covenant promise. I suspect that he reminded God about it in a nice way. I believe that he asked God for direction and God answered him. “Do not go to Egypt. Dwell in the land that I will show you. I will keep my promises.” See the account in Genesis 26:1-6.

God did not send rain or break the famine! It continued unabated during the course of that story, but the man of God knew what to do and did it.
When we face difficulties, it might not be the right thing to do by asking God to remove them or help us escape, but to give understanding and reveal what to do in it. He told Isaac what to do and Isaac did just that and sowed seed. No man in his right mind sows seed in such times, but he did, because he had a specific word from God.
On that basis, he sowed seed and reaped an hundred fold—whilst everyone else was suffering and that was in the middle of a famine.

I just gave you another key. Do not allow your circumstances to dictate terms to you. What you are going through is real of course, but others are also going through the same things. See 1 Corinthians 10:13. Ask God what He wants you to do. He has already done all He can anyhow and He already knows your need before you ask, so do not act in any negative way and cry, weep, beg or complain. Use your faith and speak His word instead and if you can’t do that, then shut up! Your complaining will shut down the blessing and you will most likely continue in that predicament without change. Present the facts to Him and ask for His counsel and when He gives it to you—apply it.
Far too many christians do not do that and they continue to go through stuff in a vicious cycle.

O.K. That was Isaac. Let us look at another illustration.
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to My word. 1 Kings 17:1

Notice the emphasis. Elijah told the king it was His word, but what the prophet said was what God had already said in Deuteronomy chapter eleven. I suggest you read it carefully and take note of the conditions that apply to receive the blessings. If we choose not to obey the Lord, then we have no right to expect the blessings. They just will not come. Do not pray for a fancy house or a new car and quote your favorite blessings and prosperity scriptures if you are not prepared to feed the hungry, visit the fatherless, look after the widows, go ye into the world to reach the lost and essentially do as God asks you. Do not waste your time in prayer if you do not honor and respect such privileges and honor and respect God’s servants. The priorities must be right. The love walk must always continue, because faith worketh by love. Faith confessions are nullified if there is no love.

God told Elijah to go to the brook Cherith where he fed him with bread and meat that Ravens brought.
Now wait a minute! Don’t ravens eat meat? Why didn’t they eat those steaks? Where did they get the bread? According to the text, Elijah did not know how or where it would happen, so he did what God told him and it worked.

God sent him to a place in a time of drought and the water dried up!

God then sent him  to another place, still in a time of famine and provided for him and the widow for as long as this supply was needed. Was she the one who baked that bread and now God was rewarding her? There was famine in the land then but the man of God obeyed God and he came through, because He had honored God who in turn honored him.

In Exodus sixteen, God told Moses what to do to get food for the people. They did not know what Manna was, but God’s instructions were very specific. Failure to comply did not work, but if they did things the way God said, everything went well.
Some people may debate the obedience factor, saying that we are now under grace (which we are), but God does not change and Grace does not give us license to do what we want. It takes a lot of faith to walk the love walk in grace and doing this is sometimes not easy. There are people we might not like, but we are commanded to love them, even whey they get right up your nose. When God says something, he means it because He does not change. Therefore His word does not change.
If you look at how God did things, you will see that He never failed, but those involved needed direction, or a specific word, for that specific occasion.
God is not a respecter of persons, so what others did, can also apply to us all. What we are to do is stop thinking like everyone else does and get specific directions from the Lord on what to do, how to do it, where to do it and when to go about it. Sometimes His directions do not make any sense, but there again, they probably never will, so just do it. What God tells us does not make sense, but it makes faith.

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We are often so programmed by the failing system that we do not see that no matter what is happening, we can tap into God at any time and draw off his resources. A believer in a village in Liberia, Kenya, India, or anywhere else, who has no money, no home, no job and no land can do this—if they believe and follow the Lord's instructions—for them. Some people might only have avocados or corn, contaminated water and overcrowded houses, but God can come through for them just as He did before. He fed a few million people and their livestock for 40 years where there were no supermarkets and no farms and not one of them lacked a thing. Read Psalm 105.
It was tailor made for them and no one else and what is necessary for you will be custom made just for you.

We tend to look at things in the natural and think in the natural, but according to Paul's teaching, we have the mind of Christ. When we do not think like God does, the devil plays with our thoughts to distract us, get us thinking on our natural environment, conditions and circumstances and stop looking at God. The devil wants us to stop thinking God's thoughts, because when we do that, we start reverting to the natural senses and then start talking them and then what we say determines the outcome.
Some people keep looking to man for their supply and that makes another man their source and not God.
That is a form of idolatry. God will use another human being to provide such assistance, but God is the source.

More people are destitute for God than at any other time in history. They suffer famine because of the lack of understanding gained by communion with God’s Spirit.  Jesus spoke of this in John 4:31-34, and Matthew 6:25-26.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work”. John 4:31-34.
 
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Matthew 6:25-26.
 
I often say that we are living in unique days—the last days. Should we not therefore expect such destitution and lack at the end of the age? If you are crying for delivery, remember that the greatest pains of childbirth come at the time of delivery. Paul said in Romans 8:18-24,
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
 
God has always warned His people throughout history when famine was coming and how to prepare for it.
He has never failed. Those who suffer and continue to suffer often do so because they are generally not listening to His voice and following His instructions.

He has already warned us about what is to come in the last hour. For example, Revelation 6:7-8 says,
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Is the Church ready for what is to come? Have we seen the watering down of the Word of God in an attempt to please everyone and become seeker friendly? Have we become so focused on the quantity, that we have lost the importance of quality?  Have many in the Church ceased to store up the word of God in their hearts in preparation? How many Christians are focussing on the prosperity doctrine, or the entertainment aspects and call that worship, but are not living the way God wants them to live, so it is like a dog chasing its tail.
Is the Church prepared to stand during this greatest time of destitution and lack?
 
Famine is here.

It is a famine for truth and revelation. It is a famine for an intimacy of relationship when God’s people walk with Him and know Him and His ways. It is a famine that just might be a way to being God’s people to themselves and get serious; get their lives cleaned up and get their acts together with regard their walk with Him and their relationships with others.
Some people have no idea of being on time for appointments, being more interested in getting their personal needs met and waste time in trivial pursuits, than doing the real will of the Lord. Shopping is talked of more than anything and we like shopping. When visitors come, instead of giving the courtesy and respect of turning off  the TV, they don’t. Conversing with them is all but impossible because their focus is on that program. TV is OK at times, but it is a great time waster and we personally choose not to watch much. Shopping is OK. Wanting a new house or a new car or a new suit is OK and we need those things, but the problem is that many believers have those things on the top of their priority list. They have enthroned the stuff on the throne of their lives and that is like a dog chasing its tail. As a result, they are going through a spiritual famine and do not know it!

Let us enjoy life to the full until it overflows. God has provided for that and wants us to live well and prosper. There is so much to enjoy and explore in life, like travel, eating well and having time to smell the roses. We do, but I also know that one of the greatest famines in history is right on our doorstep.

If you are in real need (and I know that some are), please look carefully and very closely at your own life and see if you need fine tuning. You might have lost the edge a little. You could have started well and grown complacent. You could have had a taste of the good life, but lost sight of the real objectives.

I have a feeling that some readers do not know the Lord as I do. You may attend church. You might be involved in church activities, but you do not really know Him.
You know what to do, so please do it—ask the Lord to save you or ask Him to get you back on track and restore you—not to your first love—but to give you a greater love than you had before.

If you need help in these areas, please do something about it.
What I have shared might seem idealistic, but it is the truth nevertheless. I sincerely hope that what I have shared will help you.

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