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DIG AGAIN THE WELLS
Water. One of life’s
essentials. All life requires water
to exist; humans, animals, plants.
Right after God created light for
earth, He “divided the waters.”
Before He spoke forth vegetation, He
prepared earth to produce by making
water available. It is vital to
life that we have an ample supply of
potable, pure water.
It is not by accident that God has
likened the Spirit to water. “He
that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living
water” (John 7:38). Jesus spoke of
the Spirit as rivers flowing from
believers. I picture an artesian
well flowing from those who believe
in Him. An artesian well flows
upward and outward watering its
environment bringing life. Water
makes life possible. In the most
arid places, where there is a stream
of water, there is life—in the water
and along its banks. It is the Holy
Spirit that draws us to Christ and
brings life to all who believe.
Everywhere Abraham traveled, he
built an altar and dug a well. He
dug wells to sustain life for his
family, servants and livestock. You
might say that was his trademark:
“He dug wells and built altars.” He
provided for life, both physical and
spiritual. The wells were valuable
assets to this man whom God had
blessed and prospered with great
wealth. The altars kept him in
touch with his source of spiritual
life.
”And Isaac digged again the wells of
water…” (Genesis 26:18). The
Philistines had stopped up the wells
of Isaac’s father, Abraham. The
Philistines were jealous and fearful
of Isaac, the wealthy son of
Abraham. Everything he did
prospered. Though the wells of
Abraham would be beneficial to the
Philistines, they didn’t want Isaac
to have them; so they deprived
everyone of their use by stopping
them up. They were willing to
forego having them in order to
deprive Isaac of the water produced
by the wells. If Satan can’t use
God’s provision for his advantage,
he will try to destroy it so that it
can’t be used for God’s intended
purposes. This is part of the
conflict between God and Satan; and
we know when Satan attacks us, he is
attacking God. The Bible tells us
that the battle is not ours; it is
God’s.
When a famine struck, Isaac went to
the land of the Philistines to
escape it. God told Isaac to dwell
in Gerar, and He would bless him and
renew the covenant He had made with
Abraham. The heirs of Abraham were
included in the covenant. God had
already put in motion His plans to
bless Isaac even in Gerar.
While living with the Philistines,
Isaac began to fear for his life and
depended on his own ingenuity to
survive. Isaac had a very lovely
wife, and the men of the place began
to take notice of her. When they
inquired about the beautiful lady,
Isaac told then she was his sister
(as Abraham had done in similar
circumstances). He feared they
would kill him in order to have his
wife. One day the Philistine king
observed behavior of Isaac and
Rebekah and realized that it was not
a brother and sister game they were
playing. The king confronted Isaac
with his deception and he had to
face his lie and the rebuke of the
king.
We need divine inspiration to make
the right decision. When we take
matters in our own hands, it is as
if we think God isn’t capable of
figuring out what to do about our
situation. Isaac could have totally
trusted God with his life as well as
for the protection of his wife. He
was residing where God told him to
and was living under Abrahamic
covenant blessings, but fear caused
his faith to be flawed instead of
total confidence in God. He had to
face the truth.
It is wonderful that we have a God
of second chances. When the king
learned who Rebekah really was, he
put out a protective order for her.
Now with that behind him, God began
to bless Isaac; and he became very
prosperous, so much so that the
Philistines were envious of him.
The more prosperity that Isaac had,
the more he needed the wells of
water that his father had dug many
years before. His flocks and herds
increased and water was essential
for their existence.
Satan pulls out all the stops to try
to thwart God’s plan in the lives of
those who follow Him and are sold
out to Him, but Satan couldn’t stop
the growth of Isaac’s increasing
wealth; because Isaac’s source was
God. Stopping up the wells was
intended to halt Isaac’s
prosperity. Satan can never outdo
God, but he never stops trying to
stop up our wells. God can bring
prosperity on a rock if He chooses
to. He doesn’t have to have a
fertile valley to pour out His
blessings. He just needs people who
are willing to dig wells and keep
them maintained to top efficiency.
Alas! The wells have been stopped
up! Satan has done his dirty work
and has stopped up many wells that
our forefathers put great labor into
for our generation and future
generations of believers. The wells
we have access to came to us at
great cost. The spiritual pioneers
dug diligently to produce the water
we have today. They passed on to us
the rich resources that they paid a
great price to acquire. The
spiritual wells that brought life to
them have been passed on to us for
safe keeping. It is our heritage
and our responsibility to keep the
water pure and usable. God is still
looking for well diggers and
keepers. Satan cannot disable the
digging tools we have to open the
wells that spiritual pioneers have
dug before us. The only thing that
could keep the wells from being
cleaned out is the lack of diggers
and their enthusiasm for digging.
We need to look at what has stopped
the flow of pure water from these
wells. We need to discover what has
polluted them and get a vision of
what we must do to clean them out
and restore the flow of pure water.
If we are to re-dig the wells, we
need to know what has stopped them
and what tools we need to excavate
them. Many things have contributed
to the tragedy, and the original
diggers would be appalled at the
condition of the wells they dug.
The list would be long if we looked
at every scoop of filler, but here
are three to consider.
One of the fillers of our wells is
apathy. Apathy: Emotionally
detached, unmoved, not interested,
indifferent. Apathy just doesn’t
care and acts as a sedative.
Spiritual sleepiness robs us of
awareness. “Go to the ant, thou
sluggard; consider her ways, and be
wise” (Proverbs 6:6). “Give not
sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to
thine eyelids” (6:4). “The soul of
the sluggard desireth, and hath
nothing…” (13:4).
God wants us to be always alert and
aware of the devil’s destructive
devices. Just being passive will
please Satan. He doesn’t mind if we
go to church, sing in the choir,
give in the offerings and serve on
committees if we will just keep
ourselves aloof from intimacy with
God. Activity will salve our
consciences and make us “feel good”
because we are doing
something. Satan will encourage us
to look at what we are doing and
help us to feel proud of our
activities. God prefers “being” to
doing. If our doing is not a
product of “being,” then those works
will be ineffective in our personal
relationship with our Heavenly
father who desires our fellowship
and friendship. We can be a doer
without faith, but faith is
necessary to “being.” “For in him
we live, and move, and have our
being…” (Acts 17:28). Jesus told
the Laodicean church He would spew
them out of His mouth for their
lukewarm, apathetic condition
(Revelation 3:16).
If we allow apathy to stop our wells
and the flow of “water,” then we are
no longer productive. We are
commanded to “be filled with the
Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). It is not
a suggestion, but a requirement.
The previous verse instructs us to
have understanding what the will of
the Lord is and not to be wise in
ourselves. The following verses
give the key to being filled with
the spirit and digging out the
apathy in our wells: “Speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart unto the lord;
giving thanks always for all things
unto God; submitting yourselves one
to another in the fear of God.”
First it is mentioned that we
encourage ourselves with His Word,
rejoicing and giving thanksgiving;
then that will cause an overflow to
others. Potable water must be
living, flowing, giving out of
itself; otherwise, it is a stagnant
pool and not fit for use. We have
to approach God by faith. “But
without faith, it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe…” (Hebrews 11:6).
Faith is the generator that empowers
the flow. The Holy Spirit is the
purifier and keeps the flow useful.
It wasn’t our sweat, prayers and
tears that dug the wells that we
drink from. It wasn’t our tools
that carved them out of the hard
earth. We are the beneficiaries of
the good water that flows from the
wells dug out by spiritual
pioneers. It was the “faith of our
fathers” that untiringly kept at it
until they brought forth the truths
we are building upon. Perhaps that
is why we are sometimes apathetic
toward protecting them. It could be
that the Lord allows the wells to be
stopped so we can have some
investment in their existence. If
we have to clean them out for our
own benefit, we will have a greater
appreciation of what we have and be
more protective toward them.
“That the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with
fire…” (1 Peter 1:7). Faith is what
God is looking for in us; faith that
will produce works as a result and
will “be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ.” “Faith is the
substance of things hoped for…”
(Hebrews 11:1). Apathy has no
hope. It just doesn’t care.
So we need to clean out any apathy
toward our relationship with God and
any we have toward others so the
fountain will be available to us
with abundance to share with other
thirsty souls. Faith is the tool we
need to dig again the well that has
been filled with apathy; faith that
honors God and exalts Jesus Christ;
faith that is retroactive,
considering those who were willing
and able through their faith to
leave us this legacy. Faith has
hope and invigorates and motivates
us to do good works. These works
will come through the fire pure,
lasting and established for the
Kingdom of God.
We can also allow our
self-sufficiency to fill our
wells. Self-sufficiency excludes
all others. The “I-did-it-myself”
attitude pre-empts the body of
Christ that is meant to work
together with the Head to accomplish
God’s will and purposes. When God
brings prosperity and great
blessings, we can become so
satisfied with our lives that we
begin to think that we alone caused
it to happen. Remember what
happened to Nebuchadnezzar when he
decided that he was responsible for
the greatness of Babylon: “of my
power, and the honour of my majesty”
(Daniel 4:30). “The same hour
was…Nebuchadnezzar…driven from men,
and did eat grass as oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of
heavens, till his hairs were grown
like eagles’ feathers, and his nails
like birds’ claws” (Daniel 4:33).
His deplorable condition continued
until he came to himself with
understanding and “blessed the most
high, and I praised and honoured him
that liveth forever…At the same time
my reason returned…Now I
Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and
honour the King of heaven…” (Daniel
4:34, 36, 37). He filled his well
with himself! It was not until he
came to the realization that it was
God who had given him the kingdom
and began to praise and honor God as
King of heaven that his sanity
returned.
When self is king in our lives, the
only kingdom we are rulers of is
ourselves, and that will stop our
wells. Self-orientation makes us
vulnerable for mental and emotional
downfall, because we can’t
self-fulfill our spiritual needs.
Herod fell prey to the same
self-importance trap. “And upon a
set day Herod, arrayed in royal
apparel, sat upon his throne, and
made an oration unto them. And the
people gave a shout, saying, It is
the voice of a god, and not of a
man. And immediately the angel of
the Lord smote him, because he gave
not God the glory; and he was eaten
of worms, and gave up the ghost”
(Acts 13:21-23). God will not allow
His glory to be given to another.
There is no limit to how much God
will bless those who honor Him and
walk in His ways.
Satan, too, thought he could rise
above God and exalted himself, even
influencing one-third of the angels
to rebel with him. Theirs was an
eternal fall, and now Satan spends
his time trying to pull others into
the self-trap.
When the spirit of self becomes
“obese,” it will fill up a well-dug
well. It’s the pits, when self
falls into the well, polluting it,
poisoning the water and making those
who drink of it to also become
delusional. The only way out of a
self-poisoned well, is to climb out
by the rungs of humility.
Those who want to be rulers must
adhere to the teaching of Jesus in
Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek;
for they shall inherit the earth.”
Meekness is being totally dependent
on the Lord for everything,
including personal exaltation and is
the opposite of self-importance.
Jesus has told us in His word that
we shall rule with Him, but it will
be because of Him, not by our
efforts that we attain that status.
If we fill our well with self, it
will bury us; or we can say as Paul,
“I die daily,” (to self) and
experience resurrection of a well
giving out living water.
Loss of quantity and quality time
spent in nurturing our spiritual
life is negligence. The
disciples had observed that Jesus
spent much time in prayer. They
wanted to have the power and fruit
in their lives that He displayed, so
they asked Jesus to teach them to
pray. If we take the literal words
of their request, it says, “teach us
to pray” not teach us how to pray,
just impress upon us how valuable
prayer is and how to do so
effectively. Whichever is intended,
it is very clear that Jesus put a
high premium on prayer. He prayed
privately and publicly. The
communication between Him and His
Father produced the results that
caught the attention of the
disciples.
The prayer example recorded in Luke
11 has been called “The Lord’s
Prayer,” but it seems to be the
disciples’ prayer instead. The
Lord’s Prayer is better found in
John 17. The kernel of that prayer
was His desire that His followers
would know Him as Jesus knew the
Father. What an aim! If we could
know Jesus as Jesus knew the Father,
we would never fill up a well with
neglect! He wanted them to know the
Father as he knew Him. He said He
had given them the words of the
Father which they had received. The
desire of Jesus was that they—and
we—would know the joy He had with
the Father.
A beautiful and loving thought is
found in verse 20: “Neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through
their word.” That includes us! The
same desire Jesus had for the
disciples, He has for us today—that
we may be one with the Father and
with the Son “that the world may
believe.”
Meditating on the Word and prayer
are interlocked. Conscientiously
studying the Word will prompt us to
pray; praying will prompt us to
spend time in the Word. That
combination will produce a well
filled with pure water that will
cause life to spring up in and
around us. “He turneth the
wilderness into a standing water,
and dry ground into watersprings”
(Psalm 107:35). Conversely, neglect
of the Word and prayer will stop up
the well and cause it to lose its
productiveness.
The obvious tool to use to clean out
a well stopped up with neglect is a
return to reading, studying,
meditating and applying the Word and
consistent fervent prayer. “…The
effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much” (James
5:16).
When we begin to clean out the wells
that have been filled with apathy,
self-sufficiency, lack of the Word
and prayer, we can expect to
encounter discouragement. The
account of Isaac’s attempt to re-dig
the wells of his father in Genesis
26 candidly recounts the hindrances
he faced. In the valley, they dug a
well and found “springing” water or
living water, not stagnant but
flowing, a well that would be very
useful and much desired. As soon as
it was flowing, the Philistines came
and claimed it. So Isaac’s servants
moved on and dug another well and
met the same opposition. The
Philistines claimed it. They moved
on to another site and dug again.
Finally, they were able to use that
one.
We should not become overwhelmed
with discouragement when someone
takes our well that we have
diligently dug or restored. We can
apply the teaching of Jesus in
Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you,
Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute
you.” It took the third effort of
Isaac’s servants to be able to use a
well that they brought to life.
Verse 45 tells us that attitude
will show that we are “children of
your Father.”
The lesson we can learn is to not
become discouraged, be diligent, do
good and move on if you must, but
keep on loving and praying for those
who are trying to bring
discouragement. We may have to dig
many wells which others may receive
the benefit of, but we are not to
stop digging. We are to continue
cleaning out the wells of the past
that have blessed many generations
and not be timid about digging new
wells for future believers to enjoy.
We need to keep our tools cleaned,
sharpened and ready to use when
needed. Be ready at all times with
faith, humility, prayer and the Word
to not only dig out the wells but
keep them flowing with life-giving,
life-sustaining pure water to use
and to share.
Points to Ponder
Digging Deeper
Be a well; produce pure,
sweet water for the Master. Keep a
bucket handy to share it with
everyone who comes by thirsty.
It is astonishing what can be
accomplished when no one cares who
gets the credit.
......Delores
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