9 Simple and Effective Strategies You Can Use During Times of Scarcity and Difficulty
- Victoria Kamau
- Dec 1, 2021
- 6 min read
A little background to catch you up. Long, long ago, in the land of Egypt, the country was experiencing a time of famine. The famine was to last a whopping 7 years!
They were in the early years of the famine, perhaps the 3rd year of the famine, and it was very severe at this point.
Have you ever been in such a place in your life? A time when things were dry? Right from your career to your relationships to your spiritual life and everything else?
What did you do at such a time?
Did you fret, complain, sink into depression, got busy to avoid dealing with the discomfort? Or did you look to God for help?
What I know about life is that it’s a mixture of both good and bad times. No one ever has it smooth or tough all the way.
But most people, if not all people, don’t handle times of adversity well which is quite queer because we know it all too well that life isn’t a bed of roses. Nevertheless, we still have a hard time.
Part of the reason I believe this is so is that our psychology and biology are wired to survive i.e. preserve energy. Yet in times of difficulty, as it was in Egypt, we expend energy.
Naturally, we want to store up. We want to avoid pain and seek pleasure.
But what do you do when the pain seems to persist?
Track with me.
The verses in this chapter of Genesis are rich with lessons that you and I can use in times of difficulty and scarcity. Especially at a time such as this of the Covid-19 pandemic, we can use the practical lessons here.
Strategies to Thrive at a Time of Scarcity
1. We are Better Together
It appears that the famine got a lot worse than what they had previously anticipated.
It was so severe that even the storehouse in Egypt was languishing.
So, Joseph comes up with a plan to gather all the money and put it into Pharaoh’s house.
During times of scarcity, it’s wise to put together all of one’s resources. Not only that but coming together either as a family, a team, an organization is the way to go. We need one another more during times of scarcity.
Lesson: In isolation, you die, but in a community, you survive to thrive.
2. It is a Vain thing to Place Your Hope in Money
The money failed. This sentence hit me like a ton of bricks.
It grabbed my attention so powerfully like a bandit.
It sounded to me as though the plan failed.
There could be 2 possible meanings here of “the money failed.”
The first meaning:
The money was unable to do what it was expected to do. It was limited. There was some form of hope that was placed in the money and as soon as the money failed, the hope failed with it as well.
The second meaning:
The money ran out. They depleted their resources. It was the case of “We don’t have the money, what do we do?”
Lessons: Like in this pandemic, placing your hope in material resources is a vain thing to do.
Money or other resources were never meant to be our source of hope or what we should place our hope in.
That’s because they aren’t capable of holding us up in times of adversity.
That’s not their role, their role is to serve you. They are simply tools.
I remember a time back when I was about to enter into what was a financially difficult season of my life. I sensed God whisper in my heart, “Do not trust in the plans” and as sure as the days to come were, my plans failed me immensely.
God is saying, “Money is a tool of service to mankind. It was never meant to be a saviour.”
Money is not a source, only a tool.
Lesson: Money runs out.
3. Are you a Hoarder or a Releaser?
Joseph had to look for alternatives now that money had failed.
Something worth noting here is that Joseph used what he had.
During times of scarcity, you will use up what you have. Things aren’t meant to be hoarded, but to be used when the need arises.
Hoarding is often a sign of fear and fear never works to our advantage unless there is danger ahead.
Hoarding is not godly but saving is wisdom.
4. Dependence on God is “THE” Key
In times of scarcity, it is more about survival. It could mean just living with the bare minimum.
Times of scarcity teach you and me to depend on God more than any other time.
Just as the scripture says, “man shall not live on bread alone but by every word of God”.
5. Seek Help
The following year, things got worse. But I love the honesty in these men. I love that they stepped out of their shame and reached out for help.
In times of scarcity, there’s no shame in asking for help. In fact, in all of life, you need help.
Not necessarily help from the person who is in a position to help but the person God has appointed.
We’re also to help people around us who are in need.
6. There’s Value in What’s Left
The people in need were answers to themselves. Just because you’re in scarcity doesn’t mean what’s left should go to waste.
That means what’s left is of value.
The land though bare and the people unproductive, still counted themselves as worthy of being saved.
In times of scarcity, it narrows down one’s focus to what truly matters. You matter. The little I have, I shouldn’t despise.
Lesson: Don’t despise what’s left.
7. Embrace Change
In times of difficulty, we are willing to do things that otherwise looked extreme or impossible.
We do what we wouldn’t in normal circumstances. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Times of difficulty give us a different perspective. It helps us see things we otherwise wouldn’t do if things remained business as usual.
Resisting change is what makes matters more difficult.
Lesson: Change is inevitable.
8. Everything Rises and Falls with Leadership
Though Joseph was in charge of the people, he didn’t take their rights away.
Here’s what a good person in authority will do:
1. They’ll give you the power to reproduce- Joseph gives them seed and the permission to sow.
God has given you and me a seed. Just as a good leader, He has empowered us to reproduce. The Bible says it is God who gives the power to make wealth. Do you believe that you have the power to make wealth?
God never leaves you without anything. Sometimes He strips you to the very bottom until you are finally able to see what He’s been seeing all along.
2. They have authority over you but they’ll never take away your identity. God owns you but He’ll never take away your individuality.
9. Have a Budget
This verse gives a breakdown of how to spend money. The people in the story today came from something to nothing and from nothing to something.
In the new economy, God through Joseph, tells the people how to spend what they were able to produce.
The produce is divided into 5 portions.
The 1st portion was to be paid to Pharaoh. This is the tithe.
Whatever God gives you, give back a portion to Him. Also, take note of the position of the tithe, it takes the first position.
The 2nd portion is savings.
Don’t spend everything you earn. I once heard it said that “you’re only as rich as your savings and investments and not your salary”.
Set aside an amount. But also with the saving, the frame of mind matters, do you save for emergency purposes or opportunities?
The 3rd portion invest.
Let your money work for you, don’t always be working for the money. The seed is the money, the field is your place of investment.
In both practices of saving and investing, it’s not a one-time affair rather it’s a continuous process.
The 4th portion goes to your household.
This could be your family (immediate and extended), household items, personal items, vacations, and the like.
The 5th portion goes to the little ones.
In the event you don’t have children of your own, where does this money go?
A couple of ideas:
Give for charitable causes and this can include a family in need or the money could go into any of the other 4 categories.
The verses in Genesis 47:13-26, fleshes out how people survived at a time of scarcity and difficulty.
Though there’s one more critical matter to address before wrapping up and that is,
The Scarcity Mentality
What’s more dangerous than being in a season of scarcity is having a scarcity mentality.
Even if you’re in a season of abundance and you possess a mentality of scarcity, you’ll inadvertently end up with meagre resources or find a way to self-sabotage in the area of finances.
This is because finances are not only material, i.e. the tangible cash or digital cash but so much more about your belief system.
I like to think of it as the iceberg principle. The physical and technical aspect of finances is the tip of the iceberg. What we see above the water.
Whereas the unseen part is the belief system. The belief system controls the money habits each one of us has.
One thing that’s for sure is that times of difficulty are rich with lessons. Such times serve eternal purposes in you and me.
They put a lot of perspective on who we are and the way we view life.
Remember this in dry seasons that tough times don’t last but tough people do.
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