I was reading in Genesis and this passage of verses stuck out to me...
Genesis 25:15-25 [15] For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. [16] And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. [17] And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. [18] And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. [19] And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. [20] And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. [21] And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. [22] And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. [23] And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. [24] And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. [25] And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Take special notice of the bold, italicized, underlined verses: these are the key verses that spoke to me.
So in our story, we have Isaac following in his father’s footsteps - tracing a similar route that his father had already previously “blazed” before him...and on the journey, if I may use my imagination a little, I can see Isaac taking a trip down memory lane as they travel along the way. Maybe He had the old “map” his father, Abraham, had given him from his journey from years before. As the sun rises high in the sky and everyone is getting tired, hot, and thirsty...their water supply may even be getting low at this point. Maybe Isaac glanced down at the map and saw a notation Abraham had scribbled down. Dug a well here (X)— good water
In my mind, I can see Isaac give the command to stop and he gets down off his camel. He begins to walk around and survey the land where the well used to be... looking for a trace of the well his father had dug out years before. I can see his servants spread out and looking for a stone or something to give a clue where the well was located. Maybe just as he was about to give up on locating it and call everyone back to the caravan, one of the servants yells out “I found something!”
Everyone rushes over to see! Sure enough, there are a few stone remnants left... but the well has been filled up with dirt by the enemy. I can imagine the servants breaking out the shovels and starting to dig...
A while later and after some back breaking labor, one of the servants stuck that shovel in one more time and water sprung forth!! All those thirsty and dirty travelers must have felt such relief to see the water again!! However, here our story takes a turn... People around town started noticing Isaac and his family had found the water again- they didn’t want them to experience the water and to be refreshed by it - the same well that had been purposely “stopped up”, now became a source of contention and controversy. (Remember: it was unusable before and no one else has made an effort to fix it ) Isaac decided to just go dig out another well - sure enough, the same thing happened again! Isaac again moves on to a new place and begins to dig out another well. This time, however, everyone left them alone. I’m not sure if that was because they saw Isaac was determined to not allow anyone to hinder him from getting that life sustaining water for his family or perhaps, he got far away from town where this well wasn’t as convenient for those looking to just stir up strife. Whatever the reason, Isaac was thankful to the Lord God of his father Abraham! He built an altar to thank the Lord for His providence and His provision.
He built his own experiences and his own encounters with God based on what worked for his father before...
Abraham was known for the altars he built, the sacrifices he made, and the faith that he had. He was a man of faith, prayer and sacrifice. He was a friend of God! What a legacy to leave behind to your children...
Isaac, on the other hand, was the benefactor of an inheritance. He had benefited from the previous generation. But at some point, he realized (after the Philistines plugged up the inherited wells from his father) that he had to dig out the wells for himself. He found that if you dig new shallow wells that only connect you to the world, those wells don’t last and will dry up. But when Isaac tapped into the deeper water, the ancient well, he tapped into a well that would sustain life. He chose God for himself - later, it would be written- the God of Abraham and of Isaac.... God became his personal God - not just Daddy’s God.
Because there is ALWAYS a well of Living Water, but you will have to dig your own well of personal belief. There are no family names in the book of life; only the names of individuals . At some point, the faith of your fathers will not sustain you or save you. You have to make your own decision about whom you will serve...and if you want to dig out those wells for yourself.
Some people might ask ‘why didn’t Isaac just give up digging wells, when they kept getting stolen?’ For Isaac, it was a matter of life and death.
It was a matter of digging or dying!
He had to have water. The same is true concerning God’s Word in our lives. Without it, we will die spiritually! Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We must have the Living Water!!
I guess that is what really spoke to me... As holiness people (and holiness women of God), we have been so blessed to have had wonderful examples of faith before us. Those old saints of God paved the way before us...They dug out
the well of commitment,
the well of sacrifice,
the well of prayer,
the well of faith,
the well of separation,
the well of holiness,
the well of faithfulness,
the well of obedience,
the well of determination,
the well of convictions
...and the list could go on and on....
They paved the path before you and I. We have been recipients of that inheritance. We have seen the God of our fathers move in times past on them but we are needing to experience it for ourselves today. May we be like Elisha when Elijah was taken away up to Heaven— (we know Elisha asked Elijah to grant him a double portion of the Spirit that dwelled in Elijah - not because he wanted to be twice as great but Elisha felt like he needed a double portion of the Spirit to even be close to the man that Elijah was.)
But after Elijah is taken away, and Elisha comes to the Jordan River - what does he do? He smote the waters with Elijah’s mantle and cried “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” He was experiencing his own new personal encounters with God while drawing from the experiences of those who had gone on before him... it worked for that man of God! I believe it will work for me!!
The Bible says God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He doesn’t change. He will be our God just as He was God to the generations before us. We just have to be willing to pay the price...
So the question remains today...Are we going to dig or are we going to die??
I pray that we will have a revival of good old fashioned “well-digging”—The enemy may have stopped up some wells in your life but they don’t have to stay that way!! Let’s get that dirt and debris out of our wells so we can once again have that Living Water in our souls!!
-Tiphanie