When life is hard ...

"Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe." (Genesis 12:10).

Later on, in the time of Joseph, we read about Egypt being a place of refuge in a time of famine. This story is told in Genesis 41-50. Its significance, in terms of God's purpose of salvation is summed up in Genesis 50:20. Here, in an earlier generation, we read about Abram going down to Egypt to escape the ravages  of famine.  A famine is a testing time. It can be the making or breaking of us. In life's hard times, we can learn to trust the Lord, looking to Him for His help, or we can blame Him and turn away from Him. When we encounter problems in our life, let us pray that these will not lead us into  another kind of famine - "a famine of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11). Rather, let us pray that, when life is difficult, we will learn to feed on the Word of the Lord and find that our strength is renewed - "Those who wait on the Lor will renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).