When I first read about a famine in the time of King David of Israel I was struck by the last part of the verse, '...and David enquired of the LORD'.
It seems that there had been a famine for 3 consecutive years and now David was taking notice and going to the LORD for understanding.
I wonder - had it taken 3 years before David had asked God the reason why?
Had he, like us, just thought it was an inevitable part of life, just a bad spate of years, that next year there would probably be a better year and it would all balance out in the end?
But after finally noticing that year after year there had been a famine, King David knew what to do - he went and 'enquired of the LORD'
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"What was was the meaning of it?" he might have asked.
"Why is this happening, LORD - is there a reason?"
We are in the beginning of a new year.
With a new year come dreams and hopes of a fresh start, an opportunity to try again. Perhaps we want things to be different this year or we have an eager mind wanting to make the most of what we have been given.
What was your last year like?
Let us use this time to take stock, to reflect, to notice:
As we look back over the months, the weeks and the days, do we notice there have been things occurring over and over again, or things in which there has not been any progress?
Did you have a 'famine'? A lack of fruit in some area of your life?
Have we gone to God in prayer and asked Him why, what is the meaning of it?
We can be very slow to notice God's voice speaking to us through events. For example, what would be our response if we were to be told from a a trusted source that this year there would be a famine?
I immediately have pictures in my mind of those I saw from Ethiopia when I was growing up - emaciated pitiful children with enormous sad eyes and distended stomachs. Mothers with anguished hopelessness written across their faces. Barren, dry, dusty land. No greenery. No water.
I might, like other people start stocking up on appropriate foods, and thinking of alternative resources, but do we ask God why?
Perhaps we think it is simply an inevitable part of life - these things happen. Some say it is global warming. Others disagree.
This account from King David's time emphasises to us how God speaks to us through events in our lives. When David noticed that this famine was becoming significant, when it had lasted long enough to draw his attention, he asks God why it was happening, and God answered him - there was a reason for it.
Many years ago, David's ancestors had made a treaty in the name of God, that they would not kill a group of people in the land of Canaan called Gibeonites.
The Gibeonites had obtained this treaty through deception, but nevertheless, when the deception was discovered David's ancestors respected the treaty because it had been made in God's name (Joshua 9).
However, King David's predecessor, King Saul, in an attempt to win the favour of his country had disregarded this ancient treaty and tried to kill any Gibeonite descendants living in Israel and Judah. His aim was to wipe them out.
God was now, through the 3 year famine, speaking to King David and his country that a promise made in His name had been broken and the situation needed addressing.
Without getting too drawn into the actual circumstances of this event, we notice that after David had sought justice for the surviving Gibeonites by punishing the sons of Saul, who may well have been involved in the murders, we then read, 'and after that God was intreated for the land' (verse 14).
When God's voice had been noticed, the reason had been asked why, the situation had been addressed and the cause attended to, God was intreated for the land (which I imagine means the famine ended and they again had the blessings of harvests).
After initially reading this chapter and then turning to my daily devotional, Seasons of the Heart, I was then struck by the verse for the day, which spoke of God healing the land of those who repented before Him and were forgiven:
'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land' (2 Chronicles 7:14).
And the preceding verse reads, 'If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;'
It reminds me of an earlier blog post series (Part 1, 2, 3) when we noticed how God sends the weather, 'whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy' (Job 37:13)
But wonderful to notice here is the mercy, the promise and the hope - the mercy that God speaks to us through these various events to get our attention, the promise that He will forgive and return to us when we return to Him, and the hope and encouragement that this gives us to pray to Him.
"Return unto me, and I will return unto you" saith the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:7).
Dear friend, as we enter this new year how is it with you and with me?
Do we feel as if last year we made such a mess of things in our lives that we cannot go to God and ask for His forgiveness and help?
Do we read these words of the Bible and think that they were written years and years ago and don't apply to us?
Listen to what God says earlier in that chapter: "I am the LORD, I change not".
God is not like us - He doesn't say things and then forget them. He is not fickle, changeable or moody. He doesn't have bad days and good days. He is Truth, Life and consistently the same. What He said at the beginning of time (as we understand it), is as true today as it was then.
Let us go to Him in prayer and confession, dear friend. If you have a desire to reach out to God, He is already reaching out to you and calling you to go to Him. He hears you and is waiting to show you His love and kindness.
Perhaps you do not feel that your life is going too badly, but there are things that niggle or get you down. Things which you wish you could change. Perhaps you have resolved that this year will be a new start, you will try extra hard to change these things. We can align some of these things in our lives with the idea of 'famines'.
A famine usually means a scarcity or lack of food and may arise from lack of rain, and a failed harvest. There is an absence of the fruits of harvest on which we are so dependent for our food. In this story of David they were experiencing a literal famine.
Can these areas of our lives, which we wish we could turn from or change be described as 'famines' - famines in which there is an absence of fruit?
Is it in your relationships - or lack of relationships?
Is it the lack of love and harmony in your family?
Is it the lack of growth in your knowledge of the Lord?
Is it the absence of spiritual life or growth in your church?
Is it the lack of success in your attempts to work?
Is it your lack of health and fitness?
If you have obtained a brand new journal for 2025 it may have some tools to undertake self-analysis such as:
What areas of life are important to you?
What areas to you feel you are performing well in?
Which areas are you not performing well in?
If you aren't performing well in an area what are you not doing that you are doing in the areas you do perform well in?
Let us consider this briefly in a spiritual sense, bearing in mind:
'Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it' (Psalm 127:1).
If we are struggling and striving to bear fruit in a particular area of our life but there seems to be a continual 'famine' is it because we are trying to do it in our own strength and for our own ambitions? Have we been doing this without asking the LORD to help us? Has it just been our own agenda? Is this actually something the LORD would have us do?
Let us sit quietly before the Lord and 'enquire'. Let us ask Him to show us if this area we are striving to bring forth fruit in is in accordance with His will. Let us ask Him for His help. Let us go back to the scriptures and study for the godly way to do this thing, whether it is to raise a family, get married or have a productive work life.
As we examine ourselves let us ask the Lord to help us hear that little voice of truth - perhaps telling us we aren't speaking to our husbands, children or others with respect; that we are spending too much time on our phones; that we are not putting in the focus, prayer, or time - the 'sowing of seed', the 'rain' and the 'sunshine', that this area needs to bear fruit; that we have been trying to do it for our own glory but not the Lord's; we have been trying to do it out of pride and what other people will think rather than really listening to what people need and trying to help them from a place of compassion.
Let us spread all these things out before the Lord in prayer and enquire of Him, why did last year turn out the way it did? What would He have us do differently this year? What would He have us strive for to serve Him and live to His glory? Let us ask Him to help us form God given goals and thoughts for this new year of 2025.
And may He help us to put right that which was wrong. What do you need to do to start seeing fruit in that area of your life? Do you need to ask for somebody's forgiveness? Do you need to first put something right?
May the Lord help you as you prayerfully try to do these things. May we see His blessing as we strive to live according to His ways and will. May we see the signs of growth in that area of famine - a sign that He is 'healing' our land.
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