We have spoken about clogged wells earlier, and about how not giving tithes and offerings can be a cause of stoppage of the living water in our life and in the congregation.  Giving from our money according to the appreciation of God’s grace and for His purposes is one defense against stinginess and greed. 

Today I want us to look at and consider together about another cause of clogged wells, and of what each of us can do to be both blessed and also a blessing to others.  This requires repentance, which brings life unto God, and also requires each of us to take heed as we seek the life that is Messiah in us to grow and enlarge.

The banner behind me is the one done for the “Spring up, O well!” conference last week.  It was done by Ladell Neitzel, who was also part of the conference.  She spoke about how difficult it was for her to make this banner, and she could not complete it with water springing up out of the well.  She felt from the Lord that perhaps we are not ready for it yet, for the well to be released.  On the one hand, I completely understood by the Spirit that we are preparing for and anticipating a significant revival within the congregation and whole Body of Messiah.  On the other hand, I felt ashamed at our own condition that the well is still clogged. 

Let’s read from the source:  Gen 26:12-33

–Isaac, the son of promise, became very rich and prosperous in the land of the Philistines. –The Philistines envied him, and sent him away; and they had stopped up all the wells, which Abraham’s servants had dug, with dirt and dust.

–Isaac left, and his servants dug again the wells from the days of his father and gave each one the same name which Abraham had given.

–Isaac’s servants dug in Gerar (probably near Nahal besor today), and found a well of living water.
–The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac, saying that the water was theirs!
–They had not dug there all the time they had been in that area, but ‘owned’ it after the hard  work of others.  This is similar to the Islamists who claim all the land of Israel, even though it has been the Jewish people who have worked hard to make the land cultivated and fruitful after so many centuries under Muslim control and disinterest.  Another recent example if Lebanon, which claims the natural gas off-shore of Israel’s northern coast after Israelis invested and located it for commercial use.  

–Isaac called the well Esek (Quarrel), and moved on, rather than fighting or insisting on his rights, in order to keep the peace as much as possible.  By faith, he knew that the whole land was his to inherit. 

–Isaac’s servants dug another well, and again there was a dispute.  He named this well Sitnah, which has the same root as satan (s-t-n).  Satanic disputes are rooted in envy, hatred without cause, false accusations, needless hostility. 

–Isaac moved on again, and his servants dug another well.  This time there was no dispute or quarrel.  God had given them room, and he called the well Rehovot (Wide spaces).
–YHVH enlarged their tent, and they could be fruitful.
–Isaac and his servants did not let quarrels with others, or lack of approval from others prevent them from continuing to seek what was good.  They had faith in the Living God even as others contended with them and sought to clog up their faith and frustrate them in their labors. 

–They moved on up to Beer Sheva, and in the same night YHVH appeared to Isaac to assure him and to bless him.
–Isaac built an altar, called on the name of YHVH, pitched his tent, and his servants again dug a well.
–Avimelech, king of the Philistines, a friend, and Phicol, the military commander came to Isaac.
–Isaac asked them why they were coming to him now, since they had hated him and sent them away.
–Avimelech answered that they saw that YHVH was with Isaac and was blessing him despite all their evil thoughts,  attitudes, and efforts to quench his life and successes.
–They made a covenant of peace with Isaac, that he would not them any harm.  The Philistine spirit demands to receive grace and mercy – even from their ‘enemy’ — but is not able to give it.
–That same day Isaac hears from his servants that the well they had dug in Beer Sheva had water, and they called the name Shev’ah (Seven), and the city is called Beer Sheva until today.

What can we learn from this history for ourselves?  How can these things, written long ago for us living at the end of the age for our learning and admonition, be applied to us now who believe in Yeshua?

As I have said many times before:  God is God; Satan is Satan; people are people.  But we, in whom dwells the Spirit of Christ, can change and be continually transformed into the image of the Son of God.

The word philistine means invader.  The Philistines then and today (in spirit if not actually physically descended) always resist the ways and thoughts of God, and of those who live by faith in the Spirit of God.  They ‘invade’ the peaceable character of the ‘righteous’, discourage their prosperity, and strive with those who are free – even to putting dirt and dust in their flow of living water. 

These invaders are under the control of traditional human authority and of legalism in their lives ; that is, of human religiosity, not knowing the living Spirit in their own lives.  We can all be guilty of this in certain instances; therefore the admonition to take heed to ourselves, lest thinking we stand, we fall.

This show of righteousness speaks much of grace, but separates grace from the living faith.  It is a legalism that quenches the Spirit of God, despite all our talk about freedom in the Holy Spirit.

The contention over the wells is characteristic of our legalism and self-righteousness in our own eyes – like the Philistines:  they do not dig the wells, which were also beneficial for them, but either clog them with dirt, or else claim yours as theirs.

But for those, like Isaac, who avoid becoming entangled in unproductive strife, and who continue digging for the waters until they are found, God will cause even our enemies to want us to be their friends.  They will finally see and accept that YHVH God is with you – the man or woman of faith, hope, and love – like He was with Abraham and with Isaac.  Then, the well that you dig will be your own, not to be taken by another nor filled in with dirt.  Isaac offered Avimelech food and drink, displaying the peaceable intentions he had towards even those who mistreated him.  May God help us to love others as ourselves, and even as Yeshua has loved us.

Spring up, O well!  Let the waters flow!