When famine hits the Promised Land, we start to wonder if we had followed the will of God wrongly and our faith is sorely tested. And the many ways that God may ask us to response makes discerning God's will even more difficult.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8) and when he arrived at Shechem, at the oak of Moreh, when the Canaanites were still in the land, the LORD appeared to Abram and told him that this was the land He promised (Genesis 12:6-7).
Then famine came upon the land, "That fruitful land was turned into barrenness, not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites who dwelt therein, but to exercise the faith of Abram who sojourned therein; and a very sore trial it was (Matthew Henry)."
The famine was grievous and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there (Genesis 12:10). The Bible did not record of any instructions from God. Probably, Abraham used his discretion.
Famine hits the Promised Land again in the time of Isaac, but this time, the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you" (Genesis 26:2).
Famine hits the Promised Land again in the time of Jacob and this time the Lord said to Jacob, "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation." (Genesis 46:3).
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