How to Thrive in the Worst of Times
Throughout human history, there have always been perilous times that have challenged the faith of men and women everywhere. Perilous times, by definition, are dangerous or difficult times. While we cannot prevent perilous times from coming, we can thrive--if we know how. To thrive is to flourish and prosper, even in the midst of perilous times.Isaac, the son of Abraham, is a good Old Testament example of this. He was surrounded by famine. People were packing up their families and their belongings and moving out of town looking for food and work (similar to the Great Depression in this county in the 1920s and 1930s). Yet God spoke to Isaac and told him to stay where he was and that He (God) would be with him and bless him. (Gen. 26:1–6.)
Then Isaac did something that looked and sounded utterly ridiculous--he planted in famine.
That's exactly right! He planted crops in that land even though there was famine and drought (perilous times)— and received in the same year a hundredfold harvest. (v. 12.)Oral Roberts (world-renown evangelist, author, and educator) shared a story with me one time that was very similar to Isaac’s story. It happened to his family when he was a young boy growing up in Oklahoma: When I was a little boy, my father was a preacher and a farmer. He grew corn, wheat, and a number of other crops in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. One year a terrible hail storm came through and destroyed the crop—not only our crops, but the crops of every farmer in the area. Now this was the 1920s. My father had determined that he would never be broke, so he always kept a $20 bill in the “secret compartment” of his wallet, and my mother knew it. After the hail storm, she came out on the front porch of our home and said to my father, “Ellis, get that $20 out of the secret compartment of your wallet, hitch up the wagon, and go into town to Jeter’s Feed Store and buy seed; we’re going to replant.” My father, in doubt, said, “It’s too late in the season to replant…” but he stopped, because he knew my mother was speaking a word from God. So he hitched up the wagon and got me and my brother Vaden, and we drove to Ada, Oklahoma Jeter’s Feed Store. Mr. Jeter came out of his store and said, “Can I help you, Brother Roberts?” He said, “Yes, we’ve come to buy seed to replant. My father told us over and over that he felt like a fool trying to replant his farm with $20. He said, “Mr. Jeter, looked at me as if to say, it’s too late… and then something happened. He turned to his workers and said, ‘Take Brother Roberts’ wagon around behind the feed store and fill it with seed.’” My father drove that wagon back to our farm and replanted… even though to the natural mind it didn’t make sense to replant because it was too late in the season. None of the other farmers in the area replanted, just the Roberts family. And only one farm in that area harvested a crop that year. It was the Roberts farm. I believe when my mother told my father to replant, she “shifted gears” spiritually. She went from focusing on the seed that was lost to focusing on the new seed, representing what would be harvested.
Joseph Thrived
So as you can see, God can still cause you to thrive in perilous times! Perhaps the greatest story of thriving in perilous times is the story of Joseph. Joseph was a young man with a dream from God. The dream revealed how God would sustain a nation of people in perilous times. Even though Joseph’s brothers were envious and thought to kill him, his dream was from God and was given to accomplish three things: (1) to preserve life; (2) to preserve a posterity in the earth (a remnant); and (3) to save lives by a great deliverance (Gen. 45:5–7).Although Joseph had to overcome many obstacles, the dream eventually became a reality. Most people focus on Joseph’s journey rather than the dream.
It was the dream (the will of God revealed) that caused him to thrive, not the journey.
The journey was not God’s idea, it was irrelevant. It was the dream that brought Joseph into Pharaoh’s court and made him thrive in perilous times.When Joseph’s brothers realized who he had become, they fell down and worshiped him. And Joseph said unto them, “Fear not: for am I in the place of God? [In other words, am I where God set me?] But as for you, [you] thought evil against me; but God meant it [the dream] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:19–20).If you are to thrive in perilous times, you have to first straighten out your thinking.
God does not create perilous times to punish you, correct you, get your attention or judge you.
Perilous times are usually a result of people’s sinfulness, greed, lust, dishonesty, and so on.
God’s system operates by faith and love. The world’s system operates by fear and greed.
God’s system began in the Garden of Eden. Man’s system began at the Tower of Babel. (Gen. 1:26–29; 11:1–4.) When you see financial and political chaos, it’s usually because of the seeds that have been sown. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh [carnal appetites] shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7– 8).The world’s system is simply people trying to meet their own needs, without God. God’s system teaches us how to thrive in perilous times. Perilous times will come and go, but you can thrive in the midst of them. You have God’s Word on it!