Digging Up Old Wells

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning if you will, turn in your Bibles to Genesis 26.

This morning we are going to be looking at a situation that took place in the life and travels of Isaac, son of Abraham and his own journey.

And all of this we are going to be talking about takes place after the birth of Jacob and Esau.

Remember them, the sons of Isaac—twins, who were born to Rebecca?

Esau was the older but Jacob his brother tricked him into selling Jacob his birth-rite for a bowl of soup.

Well, all of this takes place a little while after those events.

And what is going is is that a a great famine has come on the land one so great that there had not been a famine like it since the days of Abraham

This prompts Isaac to take his family and move down to the Philistine territory of Gerar, still in the Promised Land, where Abimelech was the king.

Isaac didn’t do this on a whim, but rather did this in response to the directive of the Lord . . .

Genesis 26:2 NIV84

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.

And because Issac is obedient to the Lord and does what He says, God promises a great blessing to Issac . . .

Genesis 26:3–4 NIV84

Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,

So, not a bad deal.

God tells Isaac that this land had been promised to his father, Abraham and that God was still going to make good on His promise to Abraham's descendants.

God did not see the need for Isaac to move out of his promised land, to some other land.

After all God had promised it to Abraham right?

Instead it was sufficient for Isaac to live there as a foreigner.

It was Isaac's land but he was not in control of it.

It is kind of the same way God calls us to live today.

We all hear the phrase, "we are in the world, but not of the world," right? That comes from scripture:

John 15:18–19 NIV84

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

And . . .

Hebrews 13:14 NIV84

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

We are not removed from this world, but we have to come out of the world and be separate from the things of the world.

We are called to an eternal life that begins at salvation on a journey to the Promised Land.

God has made great promises to us, but we still have to go through this life day by day, living as foreigners in the world that our Father has created.

So in reality, the life of Isaac here is pretty similar to that of a Christian.

It is all God's and He is in control, but Isaac was surrounded by enemies, just as Christians are surrounded by the enemies of the Cross!

So, Isaacs accepts the command of the Lord and goes down to Gerar, but he is very careful.

When he reaches Gerar, he runs into a predicament with his wife Rebekah.

We know from other passages that Rebekah was a beautiful woman and Isaac was concerned that the men there in Gerar would kill him and take Rebekah for themselves

So Isaac makes up a story and tells everyone that she was his sister and not his wife.

They continue this lie for a long time, but a day came when the king, Amimelech was looking out his window and spotted Isaacs and Rebekah and Isaac was flirting with her and loving on her.

Well, Abimelech figured it out that this wasn't his sister so he called Isaac in and confronted him.

Isaac told him about his fear of death.

Abimelech was pretty upset, because if one of the men had taken Rebekah that would mean that they would have committed adultery and would have fell under the judgment of God.

So Abimelech issues a decree that nobody is to touch Isaac or his wife.

This brings us up to the point where the story gets real good and our Scripture focus.

So, again Genesis 26, starting in verse 12 . . .

Scripture Focus

Genesis 26:12–18 NIV84

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.” So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

Stopping Up the Wells

So, we begin to see now he realization of God’s promise to bless Isaac.

Again, starting in verse 12 . . .

Genesis 26:12–15 NIV84

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.

So Isaac plants his crops in the land and the Lord really moved and blessed Isaac.

Remember that there was a great famine all around Isaac that had come upon the land and the people were suffering.

However, because Isaac was obedient to God and followed God's plan and God's direction, God blessed Isaac and blessed his crops.

The Bible says that Isaac reaped a hundred-fold of what he had sown that year.

This was during a time of famine and drought!

This also led to great wealth for Isaac.

The people were running short so they bought their grain from Isaac from what he had extra.

This enabled Isaac to gain riches and acquire flocks and herds and servants.

So much so, that the Philistines became jealous of what God was blessing Isaac with.

Therefore, they came up with a plan of their own.

Isaac needed water to care for his flocks and his fields, so they went out and put dirt in all of Isaac’s wells.

But the thing about these wells was that these weren't wells that Isaac had dug but the wells of his father before him.

They were deep wells, good wells, wells full of life giving water.

These were wells that God had provided to them.

These were the wells of tradition and promise.

Wells built on solid principles.

Now the Philistines had come in and stopped them up.

Interesting story, but what does that have to do with us?

Glad you asked!

It all goes back to what kind of wells God has dug in our lives.

For Christians, He has dug a well and filled it with that sweet living water of the Holy Spirit.

A well that runs deep and wide and provides for our every need.

However, we now have to ask ourselves, has our well ran dry?

Have the "Philistines" of this life stopped up that well with the dirt of the world?

And remember, the “Philistines” are a representation of nothing more than sin in our lives.

Has life dried up our well? Luke 8:14 tells us . . .

Luke 8:14 NIV84

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

That is exactly what the world tends to do to good Christians.

It will sneak in and begin to pour dirt into that well of God.

Now, what happens when you mix dirt with water?

You get mud.

Nasty old, good for nothing, useless, sticky mud.

And the living water can't flow because of the mud.

Can you water crops with mud?

Can you feed flocks with mud?

Nope, and soon after that the well begins to dry up and your left with nothing more than a hole in the ground.

We end up as a dried up dead mess looking around wondering what happened.

And the problem is that at this point, many will just give up and go home.

Digging Up the Stopped Wells

Not Isaac though, look at what he did.

Genesis 26:16–18 NIV84

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.” So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

So, not only did they stop up the wells, but they kicked Isaac out of town.

They said get out of here! We are afraid of you. You are too powerful for us.

So it goes with the true man/woman/church of God.

They are too powerful for the world.

God is too strong for the world to deal with.

So what does the world do?

John 16:33 NIV84

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

And . . .

2 Timothy 3:12 NIV84

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Hatred, persecution, trouble, tribulations.

All the ways the world tries to silence the voice of God and the voice of His people.

Christians speak out against sin and the world attacks Christians.

We say something is wrong and the world turns it around as the Christian is trying to cause trouble.

The world is trying to get rid of the Christian, just as Abimelech was trying to get rid of Isaac.

So Isaac and his band left town and went down into the valley.

They didn't go down there to sulk though.

They went to the valley and went to work.

They went down and dug up those old wells that Abraham had dug so many years ago.

Isaac knew that God's blessing had not changed.

Isaac knew that his deliverance was in the same place it had always been.

Isaac knew that all he had to do was to dig out that dirt and mud from the well and the water was right there waiting on him.

The same holds true for us.

God has not changed.

Hebrews 13:8 NIV84

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He is the same, has never changed and will never change.

We quote that verse a lot, but look at the one right after it.

Hebrews 13:9 NIV84

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.

He is the same and we are going to find Him in the same way we did so long ago when he first established that well within us.

We do it on our knees at the altar.

Pouring out our hearts to Him.

Asking Him to forgive us, cleanse us, purify us, sanctify us, fill us, mold us change us.

God is calling us all to clean out that old well and let the Living Water of the Holy Spirit flow freely in our lives again.

Altar/Challenge

The question is, are we willing to do the work?

Digging is sometimes hard, sometimes painful.

Sometimes we have let a lot of mud accumulate in our well.

However, if we want the blessings of God in our lives, particularly eternal life, we have to be a willing vessel.

1 Chronicles 28:9–10 NIV84

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

Are we strong?

Can we do the work?

Will we do the work?

That’s what really matters.

Let’s pray . . .