This Famine Won’t Last | Bishop T.D. Jakes
This Famine Won’t Last | Bishop T.D. Jakes
The enemy wants you to think the famine you’re stuck in will last forever. That’s a lie! Not only will it end, but God has already prepared an abundance for you. When Ruth and Naomi were traveling to Bethlehem during a great famine, Naomi was bitter after tragedy hit their family. Even in that state, she was unknowingly carrying out God’s eternal plan to bring about the lineage of Christ. When they arrived, there was a harvest in Bethlehem. The famine had driven them to a better life. Declare now that your famine is over!
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[Music] in the Book of Ruth chapter 1 verse 18- 22 I must I must have hit something yeah Ruth 1:1 18-22 and at the part that we jump into this text it is in the midst of transition massive transition Soul altering transition and I don’t give you the upper story but I will explain it as we go at the moment that we read the 18th verse it is it is come after Naomi uh has rejected Ruth and told her to go home like orpa just go just go but Ruth would not
go I know I don’t dress like you and I know I haven’t worshiped your God and I know that I don’t look like you and I’m from a different culture and I’m a moabitas I cannot deny that but I cannot leave you because you have so impacted my life that I tell you what thy God shall be my God and that’s conversion thy God shall be my God thy people shall be my people where thou th uh livest I shall live and when thou dest will I die and there will I be buried this is a lifelong commitment this is not a
flame this is not a passing fancy this is not a result of a mood I’m in I’m going to die where you die I’m going to live where you live I’m going to worship the god you Worship the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me till death do us part I’m your girl I got your back I’m not just your daughter-in-law I wasn’t just with you for your son I’m with you in in good times and bad times when she saw that she was steadfast minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her said
okay so they too went oh that’s so beautiful so they too went until they came to Bethlehem and it came to pass when when they would come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them and they said is this is Naomi Naomi is this this Naomi is this Naomi and she said unto them call me not Naomi call me Mara for the almighty have dealt very bitterly with me I went out full and the Lord had brought me home again empty why then call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord have testified against me and the almighty have Afflicted me so
now returned and Ruth the moabitas her daughter-in-law with her which returned out of the country of Moab and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley Harvest notice that they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest the word that the Lord told me to give to you is this famine this famine will won’t last this famine won’t
last I don’t know what kind of famine you’ve been in what you’ve been going through what’s been happening in your life what kind of upheaval emotionally physically spiritually financially attitudinally has been going on in your life maybe the lack of love maybe the lack of friendship maybe the lack of attention maybe the lack of purpose but what kind of f whatever famine it is that has that has turned you into somebody else and disfigured you and and rearranged you and discombobulated you and disoriented you this is a prophetic
word from God it’s not a message is not a sermon is it’s a word from God God said this [Applause] famine will not last let us pray Spirit of the Living God fall fresh on us today as we stand before the people as your Oracle speak through me and I’m not much but speak it through me speak through me in such a profound and clear and dactic way that hell is horrified that demons flee that hearts are converted and chains are shattered I believe you for victory in the name of Jesus we pray amen you may be seated
yeah let’s go to work when you when you read the first chapter or the first few chapters of the Book of Ruth the first one in particular is where all the drama unfolds and unravels it is difficult to determine between Ruth who married Naomi’s son thereby her daughter-in-law and Naomi who is the mother and orpa who married her other son are the main characters in the story IMC her her her husband and then her two sons are also Paramount in the story but to me the real Catalyst the driving Factor the Paramount character in the
story is not the embodiment of Flesh it is the fact famine that drives the narrative it is the famine that drives the narrative say that with me it is the famine that drives the narrative you will notice we I I just came from a meeting and we were talking about how people are uh migrating to the South now and when I was younger they were migrating to the north all the southern people were going to the north for the good jobs be because the famine drives the narrative people will pick up and move when they get hungry they will leave areas cities
communities even family friends communities Traditions when they get hungry the famine is the star of the text the famine is the star of the text because Naomi’s husband decides to move his whole family away from Bethlehem to go to Moab where they don’t have the same Customs the same Traditions the same clothing the same apparel they don’t necessarily speak the same language to take on a new identity do you know how hard it is to go someplace out on a limb and take on a new identity and forsake all that you are accustomed
to and to have to blend into an atmosphere where you are a foreigner but the famine The Narrative because if you get hungry enough you’ll change your skirts you’ll change your blouse you’ll change your hair you’ll learn another language you Mo if you get hungry enough the famine here drives the narratives often when God wants to move us he sends a famine it may not always be for food it may not always be for water it it may be for affection or validation or attention but but but the famine drives the
narrative and and and the famine in the Book of Ruth plays a crucial role in in in in really setting the stage for the story it occurs during the time of the judges so it precedes the it precedes the Kings Israel had judges before they had Kings because God wanted them to understand that he was their King they ended up with Kings by default because they admired the heathens so much that they wanted Kings but originally God wanted to be their King therefore making them a theocracy because God was their King America Claims to be a Christian
country which you could not be a Christian country and a democracy or even a republic you would be a theocracy your Constitution would be the Bible and though it is a nation filled with Christians it is not a Christian Nation and every now and then it reminds us that it is not I’mma leave that alone this is a time of instability and and trouble and Mayhem and and and frequent hardships in Israel it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s a time it’s a season of distress because of the famine has pushed them to the breaking point they
are not leaving because they have left their faith or left their Traditions or left their culture or ashamed of their culture the famine has made them have to become an immigrant the famine has got people at the border the famine has got people trying to climb through Bob wire the famine if there’s enough famine where you are it will make you desperate enough to Slither on the ground past snakes and to swim with alligators to get to something that you can you can have a better the chance at a better life will drive you to put your life at
risk because the famine drives the narrative the famine promps ELC a man from Bethlehem in Judah to leave to pull up stinks to leave his relatives and his friends where he’s respected and appreciated and to leave his homeland with his wife Naomi and his two sons Maan and Chilean and head out for a place to make it home that wasn’t really home a nearby country of Moab and there they come to meet their wives and Naomi as a woman as a woman as a mother went out full she has her sons she has her husband she has her God
she has her identity she has everything but that is not really the highlight of the story there are many things that I want you to see because eventually you will come to understand the famine is significant for several reasons the famine is significant because it drove them out but I want to pause and chall Cheng you not to be too quick to relocate every time things get hard it it it led them to Moab true enough and while their immc dies and his sons marry moabit women one of whom is Ruth and she is to be significant in this story but Ruth
would have never never met Naomi’s son if it were not for the famine Naomi loses her husband and as a parent I can’t even imagine this as a husband I can’t even imagine it much less as a parent she lost both her sons it is natural eventually to lose your parents that doesn’t make it less painful but it is natural but when you start losing it is possible to lose your spouse cuz cuz you’re the same age in the same era and you get old you grow old together if you’re lucky enough to do that maybe
your second one your third one what whatever you work out but to lose your children is a pain I pray I never know to to bury my child and so we we have to give naom me some Grace for being a little moody in this text because she has lost everything that mattered to her I could come in and tell my wife almost anything as long as me and the kids was okay she we’ll figure the rest of it out okay for Naomi she has lost her world she says I went out full and I came back empty and I’ve got absolutely nothing and here comes
Ora and Ruth behind her trying to follow her and she just don’t want to be bothered have you ever come to a point in your life where where you’ve been through so many famines that you just sick of people you know they didn’t cause the famine but you’re just sick of them by the time Naomi hears that her Homeland has food again and she’s ready to come back there’s no sons in her hands no grandsons playing at her feet no Husband by her side she is alone at the point of being alone she even wants to be
alone she kisses Ora goodbye which I’m told that’s where Oprah got her name from they misspelled It Goodbye Ora okay and and and and and she tells Ruth go home girl she says it’s too late for me to be productive if I got married today and had another son could you wait for him there are some moments that cannot be repeated y’all don’t hear me the the I want you to hear the weight of what I’m saying the the the enemy comes to kill steal and destroy because the enemy knows that if he can kill steel or destroy a moment
that moment may not be recreated ever again and for all of your murmuring and complaining about what’s going on in the world don’t miss a moment don’t miss a moment because you don’t always get a doover you don’t always get another CH I wish somebody experience would back me up in here you cannot roll back the clock of time and do it over again this was a unique moment and so now she has to let go of the moment because she is a Survivor but she being a Survivor sounds better than it feels the fact that you survived what
you love didn’t takes the joy out of being a Survivor the fact that you survived doesn’t mean that you didn’t suffer loss but nobody Comforts The Survivor They Mourn the dead but they don’t Comfort the Survivor because they think that the Survivor means you feel Victorious but it is possible for you to be a Survivor and still not be victorious because it costs you so much much it costs you so much it cost you so much to survive that sometimes you have to recover from survivorship and most of the time you
have to recover alone because nobody would suspect that the Survivor is suffering [Music] too Naomi is suffering and she’s in agony and and and her daughter-in-law Ruth chooses to accompany her but the truth of the matter is she really wants to be alone because sometimes when you are hurting bad enough you lose trust you don’t want to love again because if I love again I risk losing again and I haven’t recover from the last bruise and for you to make me love you only to lose you is to reop a wound that
I’m still trying to stitch shut because you don’t you don’t Stitch these wounds shut in a week or two you don’t you don’t fix this in a year or six months sometimes it takes you a decade to survive the loss of what you had to give up to get to the next level and so give yourself some Grace give yourself some time give yourself some room to recover give yourself the space to be honest honestly angry honestly tired honestly frustrated honestly at the end of your road honestly at the place that you don’t no
y’all going back going back going back I can’t do this I cannot be who I used to be again [Applause] I’m going get into this the problem with great blessings of any kind whether it’s the blessing of knowledge or the blessing of finances or the blessing of influence or just a blessing of life itself is that you cannot always do it again and if you’re not careful you will push yourself to the Limit trying to be who people expect you to be rather than to recreate yourself and find out that there is another version
of yourself that may even supersede the former version of yourself if you have the courage to stop trying to do encor and maybe you know not boxing anymore maybe you’re coaching now but maybe you’re better in the coaching role than you were in the boxing role and instead of standing out there at 70 trying to box somebody just so that you could you know how to do it but just because you know how to do it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to do it [Applause] and it occurs to me that the famine that drove them to
Moab is still present in another form the famine that was that drove them to Moab was a natural famine but now she’s having a familiar famine her family is gone and it occurs to me that losing your family is worse than losing loaves of bread oh did I tell you that Bethlehem means House of Bread and so there was no bread when she left Bethlehem there was no food when she left but she had family it’s possible to have famine in one area and have abundance in another area and so when you when you can’t use what you
don’t have you lean on what you do have and she had family but now the famine has progressed and taken on another form and now she’s lost family too and so there is a famine in Naomi’s heart there is a famine in Moab and there is a famine in Ruth SW all three are desolate all three are without life all three are without fruit and so when I look at the text it is a class in survival for those of us who are in famine that’s what it is it’s a class in survival for those of us were in
famine when I look at the text it reminds me not to always think that just because Bethlehem was in a famine when I left that it’s going to be in a famine when I get back that the place that was dried up can become the place of abundance and the place that was the place of abundance can become dried up and so you don’t fall in love with places persons and things as if they cannot change because the one who cursed you yesterday can bless you tomorrow and the one who blesses you today will turn around and cut your
throat tomorrow so you got to be fluid in the moment you got to be ready for change in the moment you got to be prepared to deal with whatever you got to deal with and stop defining people by by how you met them because people change jobs change situations change seasons change time [Applause] [Music] changes and it’s changed everything everything is changed and everything has changed and the one thing we hate is changed I hate change don’t change on me just don’t change don’t say it if you’re
gonna change it next month don’t make me believe it don’t make me trust you don’t make don’t make me open my heart don’t don’t do that to me if you’re going to be dry just go ahead and be dry so I can put you in the dry box but don’t tell me that knowing you is going to give me water don’t start it if you’re not going to finish [Applause] it and so the text is about famines it’s about surviving it’s about persevering it’s about enduring it’s about it’s
about aging it’s about accepting that you have nothing to prove that just because you don’t do what you used to do in a previous season doesn’t mean that you can’t ReDiscover new parts of yourself that have not been touched and don’t allow people to lock you in a box and make you have to be something that you were in the spring that you don’t have to be that in the winter that the winter can be just as beautiful as the spring if you stop craving spring and start noticing winter every season has its own
Beauty every y’all y’all don’t hear me I’m I’m I’m sorry let me go sit down I’m talking to the wrong people every season has its own Beauty as soon as you give up on insisting on what was you can start to enjoy what is but you are stuck in trying to recreate what used to be and even if you meet a man today Naomi by the time your sons are grown Ruth will be an old woman and so you cannot fix her barrenness by your behavior stop trying to fix what you didn’t break [Applause] I want you to get the substance I’m
