There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham…Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous…(Genesis 26:1, 12-13)

Virtually everyone understands the law of sowing and reaping. “We reap what we sow.” (Galatians 6:6)

Whether the seed is money, love, forgiveness, kindness, time…we know that in God’s scheme of things there is always a harvest!

Conversely, when a handful of hatred, unforgiveness, cruelty, apathy, injustice, etc. is sown, we can be confident that the same law will produce negative consequences by the bushelful.

We all know that it works, but there are times when the choice to sow or not to sow is not exactly easy to make.

A farmer has no problem planting seed when the ground is moist, the soil is rich and the forecast is favourable. The challenge comes when these healthy indicators are absent, when it might seem unwise to invest money, time and resources in the seeding process.

In Genesis 26, Isaac is faced with such a predicament. There is a famine in the land. Many locals have moved to Egypt to escape the harsh conditions. Most of those left behind have chosen not to waste their seed.

But Isaac practises the principle of contrarian investing. Why? Because God had appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt…Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you…”

All Isaac needed to sow was to know that God said so. Because he knew that when God made a promise, no matter how bad it looked, God would make it all come out good!

Sure enough, he reaped a hundredfold and became so wealthy that the king told him: “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

Have you ever been faced with the choice of having to sow in a time of famine?

•   To tithe or not in the middle of a recession?

•   To be kind to the offender when everyone else was heaping judgment?

•   To stay with your church when it was clearly in decline?

•   To keep on loving your spouse/child when you were repeatedly rejected?

•   To be persistent in sharing the gospel, even though there were no takers?

•   To keep on forgiving when the other party showed no sign of repenting?

This is where the rubber meets the road. Or, in this case, the seed hits the soil.

To sow or not to sow when there is no guarantee that it will grow. That is the challenge.

Isaac trusted in God’s promise. He had faith in God’s ability to make the law of sowing and reaping work. And he was rewarded.

How about you, dear DWOD friend? Have you ever sowed in a time of famine? What happened? Please share your experience with the rest of your DWOD family.