Isaac: Redigging Old Wells

First published on this blog on April 2, 2008.

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Journal Entry: February 13, 2008

“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."

Genesis 26:18

These past weeks I have sensed that God has a special message for me from Genesis 26. Almost everyday, I have kept going back to this chapter, as if there was a magnet pulling me to keep reading, and re-reading, the verses. I have also begun thinking deeply about its personal application in my own life.

The account, so beautiful, is beyond words to describe. I find myself in a cave full of hidden treasures. Choosing one, a multi-faceted gem, I am speechless as I hold it up to the light. In the light I see its unique design and colors. And I want to keep going back for more. It is one of those Bible passages with characters, places and events that cannot be adequately explained… only experienced.


The chapter opens with a famine in the land and Isaac on his way to Egypt. God tells him not to go down to Egypt, but to remain in Gerar. In that place God promises to bless him.

Isaac obeys, and indeed, the promised blessing begins to manifest.

With the increase of flocks and herds, having a steady water supply becomes Isaac’s priority. For some reason, all the wells that Abraham had dug were filled with earth by the Philistines. Isaac therefore instructs his servants to look for these old wells, and to dig them again.

The servants initially discover two of the wells, but upon being reopened, the wells become a cause of strife between Isaac’s men and the herdsmen of Gerar. Thus Isaac names the wells Esek, meaning “Contention,” and Sitnah, or “Enmity”.


A third well is re-discovered, and this time no one quarrels over it. Isaac calls the well Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.” Rehoboth literally means “Spaciousness, or Broad Places.”

Rehoboth also means, “Room Enough.”

Upon the re-discovery of this well, something in the spiritual realm is unlocked, and a door opens for Isaac. Hindrances are removed even as he makes the declaration: “Now there is room enough to be fruitful in the land.”
 
And Isaac heeds the divine call for him to revisit Beersheba.


There is something very special about Beersheba. In Genesis 26 we see history repeating itself in Isaac’s life. Years earlier, the men of Gerar had also disputed with Abraham regarding his wells. In this place King Abimelech and Abraham also made a covenant, or an oath, to live in peace with each other (Genesis 21). Abraham called the place Beersheba, meaning The Well of the Oath, or The Well of Seven, seven being an ancient word that also means “oath.”

Here Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and called on the name of the Lord as “The Eternal, or Everlasting, God.” After his encounter with God on Mt. Moriah, Abraham and the boy Isaac set off together for Beersheba where they both remain for a time. Apparently this place holds a special meaning for them both.

The Lord was waiting for Isaac in Beersheba. That very night, the Lord appears to him again, saying “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid for I am with you, I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

In those days, whenever one of the persons in a covenant agreement died, the terms of the covenant was again made clear to the next of kin, ensuring that the covenant remains in force. Abraham having died, it was Isaac’s turn to personally receive the words of the covenant promise. God honors his covenant with Abraham, and speaks to Isaac about it: “I will be with you and I will bless you…I will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham….” (Gen. 26:3)

And there, after God appears to him, Isaac builds an altar and calls on the name of the Lord, just as Abraham his father had done. His servants also reopen a fourth well, and Isaac calls it by the same name that Abraham called it: Sheba, meaning “oath.”

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Abraham is the prototype man of faith, obedience and prayer, who always built an altar at significant stops in his journey, who always called on the name of the Lord, who dug the wells for the next generation.


Isaac is the man who knew how to go back in time, to the revisit the past, and reopen the life sources that his father had tapped into in his lifetime. He knew that there were secrets to his father’s spiritual strength, ancient wells that he needed to rediscover and personally drink from.

I need to be like Isaac. I need to review my life story, and rediscover waterholes that have nourished me in earlier years but have somehow been stopped up, filled with earth, through neglect, complacency, or wrong priorities. Many areas in my life that I have taken for granted. Valuable lessons that I have simply forgotten. Unwatered portions in the garden of my heart where the soil has become hard and overtaken by weeds.

This is interesting: Gerar, where Isaac dwelt, means “to bring up the cud.” To meditate. Literally, to ruminate.

That word is hardly used these days – to ruminate. It means to chew, to swallow, and to chew again. To roll something around in your mouth.

I need to find my own Valley of Rumination, my Gerar, and dwell there, just as Abraham and Isaac did. To evaluate my present position, to make a spiritual inventory.

And although I see the need to dig new wells, this time God was clearly telling me, “Revisit your past. Rediscover, re-dig the ancient wells of revival in your life. There is fresh water in those wells.”

Many people tend to look at time as a straight line. And it is, if we look at our life as a series of chronological events. But actually, time is circular. I didn’t know this before. And it made much sense to me when I began to understand how time really works. Our life history is not linear. It is a circle, or more accurately, a spiral. It starts with a point, and then we go around, the circle getting bigger as we go back to past lessons and learn something new.

It is easy to think that the past is past and that there’s no use crying over spilled milk. Not really. Seasons come, and seasons go. Life is measured in cycles, history repeats itself. God has a purpose for this. Every sixty minutes, every twenty-four hours, we have another chance to start all over again. To take it further, think in terms of seven days, or thirty-one days. Every twelve months, a brand new year starts!

God is not only our Creator, He is our Re-creator, always giving us a fresh perspective, and His correct re-interpretation of the past events of our life. Jesus has already paid the full price; our past can be redeemed. And we are continually given an opportunity to break old cycles, to learn from our mistakes, and to become wiser. If done for a good motive, there is value in looking back: what a waste to just fill up our past with sand! We can choose to discover the clear blue waters at its bottom, waiting to be re-visited and re-discovered, and drank from!


Lately I have been asking myself these questions: Are there wells I need to re-dig, places I need to re-visit? Relationships that need to heal? Maybe a friendship I have neglected? An insult I need to forgive, an offense I need to let go of?

Is my life like a dimly burning lamp – do I need to trim its wick, or re-fill it with oil? Is there a painful area in my life that I have simply shoved under the rug and forgotten about? Is there a past significant event, a buried family heritage that I need to re-connect with?

These questions tug at my heart. The “business as usual,” the routine, and the commonplace have long ceased to satisfy. I have felt the longing for something more, a need to rediscover my spiritual roots.

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RESONANCE:
Dear friend, do you need to ask yourself the same questions? Are you running on empty? Have you taken a wrong turn somewhere and you need to go back before you can move on? Are there parts of your heart that have become hard and cold? Do you need to re-kindle your First Love and let passion for Jesus beat once more in your heart?

Whatever the answer is, allow it to re-surface and address it. Maybe it is an old lesson that needs to be re-learned, or unlearned. Ask God to speak to you about it. Ask him about your Esek and your Sitnah, the things that hinder you. Re-dig your Rehoboth, your “Well of Room Enough.”


Re-visit your Beersheba. Build an altar. Call upon the name of the Lord.

PRAYER:

“My Father, the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, re-open in my life the ancient well of Broad Places, the well of Abundance. Bring me to a place of enlargement, where there is room enough to be fruitful, and to know You in a deeper way. You desire to show and reveal to me the unfathomable, unsearchable things of Your heart. Oh, dear God, help me to know which old wells I need to re-dig. Light my fire again, dear Lord. I need Your fresh water to seep through the parched places in my garden.”