Genesis 26:17 – And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Genesis 26:18 – 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.

Genesis 26:19 – And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

Hello readers, another blog today. Well I was reading Genesis 26, when Isaac redug his father’s wells. In this story are so many gospel truths for us today. I was particularly struck by verse 19, where Isaac’s servant digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. It kinda reminds me of these verses…

John 4:13 – Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

John 4:14 – But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Springing water sounds pretty good doesn’t it? When you get thirsty, there’s nothing better than a drink of cool, pure water. In hell, the rich man just wanted a drop of water to cool his tongue. Water is pretty good, water is worth seeking.

This story holds special relevance for us today. Isaac was Abraham’s son, he was the child of Abraham. However, we are also children of Abraham when we get saved… Galatians 3:7 – Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Isaac saw value in redigging the old wells, and should be like Isaac and redig the old wells again in the days we live in.

Most people don’t live and think and behave like Isaac, you know why, because they’re not really a child of Abraham. Jesus came to a bunch of Jews claiming to be Abraham’s children, but they didn’t have the faith Abraham had, they didn’t obey God’s word like Abraham did, they didn’t know God like Abraham did.

We also live in a generation that has thrown away the faith that was given us from our fathers. Even if you biological father was a bad egg, we can and do have fathers that have given us faith. Just as Paul said, in 2 Timothy 1:3 ” I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience…”

We are partakers of the promises that God made to Abraham when we believe God like he did. That manner of person, one who believes and trusts God, that person is who the promises are too. God’s promise are to those who walk in the steps of Abraham, the steps of faith. Even Jesus said to that mob, he said if you were Abraham’s children you would do the deeds of Abraham. They’re claiming to be Abraham’s children, yet they’re not like the father they claim to have. How true of many Christians today. Maybe you’re not a child of Abraham and child of God like you think you are…

John 8:4 – But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

So what’s the problem in this story? Well firstly we see that there was a famine. Times were tough. Abraham had died and Isaac was now on his own. What do you do in the famine? God said don’t go down to Egypt like Abraham did when he went through the famine. We all experience famine in our lives. Famines come and test our faith, test what’s really in our heart… and what a test when Abraham is gone and now what’s really gone on in Isaac’s heart is going to be seen. So many people are in churches and call themselves Christians, but they’re following the crowd, they’ve not got the gospel in their heart and sure enough, once they get out or when the time comes for them to make decisions in life, that truth is seen. Isaac didn’t go down to Egypt, but he did do something very similar to Abraham, he started getting fearful and lied about his wife much like Abraham did about his wife.

But God got him through the famine, and Isaac was becoming a great man. But there was a problem. The wells had been stopped. Abraham had digged a number of wells in his lifetime, places that they could go and get water without fail. But all these wells had been stopped up, because there was a envious bunch who had filled them up with earth, the Philistines. Why’d they fill them up? Quite simple isn’t it, if you cut a man and his herds of cattle off from water, they’re hardly going to thrive.

Christians today have been cut off from the water. From the water of repentance and salvation, from the water of the truth of God’s word. They’ve been cut off from the life source and the life sustaining water. The picture in this story is so true, for it was earth that they filled the wells in with. Can you think of some earth which is in your water well? Can you think of anything that needs to be dug out and dealt with in your life, gotten out the way so you can get to the water? Today, we’ve lost the faith and truth that Abraham our father had and left us.  Wells of water have been filled in everywhere by the enemy, and just like Isaac had enemies, so do you have many enemies of your soul today. Are they really your friends? Isaac was dwelling with Philistines, they kinda got along, but when it came to water wells… there was an issue. It’s pretty easy getting along with people until it comes to God’s word isn’t it. God’s word is always a point of strife, contention and division, just as this story.

Do you really value those wells? Isaac did… why don’t we? Why don’t we care that the wells have been stopped? Why don’t we care that the water’s been cut off? So many Christians are in a dry and barren land in their life, and they don’t even see it. They don’t want a quarrel with the Philistines, they want to get along. They sure don’t want to do some digging, they’re too lazy, they don’t want to work. It took work to get all the garbage out the well. You don’t have to work to be saved, but there will be some tough stuff involved in dealing with things in your life, dealing with lies, dealing with sin, dealing with all that stuff that’s cut you off from the water.

I want my father’s wells back, hopefully that’s your attitude today. We had been left wells by our fathers that have gone on before, fathers in the faith. Fathers who left us with access to water. The wells need to be redug. You know, even this blog is meant to be a well, a place you can go to to get access to some water. It takes a little digging, reading, waiting on God for revelation, typing… but it can benefit someone else just as those wells Abraham left were meant to be a help to his son. And not just his son, but his son’s son… you know… Jesus would go and sit on Jacob’s well in John 4 where he would talk about that springing water of life that he had to give the woman of Samaria. What a wonderful picture.

Past generations of Christians who kept the faith, who stood for truth… they’ve gone on to be with the Lord. I was reading in 2 Peter 1… and Peter was telling them some important things they’d need to know before his decease. Before I go, this is what you guys need to know. Guys, remember, remember, remember. Don’t depart from the truths that you have been taught and which you know. Peter left some wells, he left two epistles, he left the legacy of Jesus Christ for his sons in the faith. But for how many people, those wells have been covered over with earth. The Philistines have dumped a lot of garbage in the well, and now nobody seems to be getting water anymore. Christianity today desperately needs to ridig the old wells, Abraham’s wells. We’ve lost the faith and truth and simplicity of Christ and common salvation that Abraham, who we say is our father, had.

It’s a wonderful picture in this story when Isaac redug the old wells and found springing water. What a find. In God’s word, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you’ll find springing water. It’s not just a well out there, it’s a well in your heart, a well that never runs out. Jesus Christ has the water of life, and when you’ve found him, when you’re in truth, you have wonderful spring water. Cool, clear, pure, life giving. Are you after the water?  We must find water, we must redig the old wells. We have to dig away some of the earthly trash that’s gotten it’s way in there, that’s stopped the flow of water. What has cut you off from truth?

Can you think of some of the earth that’s gotten in the well? New Bibles, worldliness, ungodliness, false doctrine… it’s all been heaping earth in there. And we’ve been cut off from the water of life. Earthly stuff gets in our water well, and we find ourselves dry and barren. Then Isaac gets the earth out and guess what happens? There was opposition. Expect there to be opposition to you believing God and following him… to you redigging the old wells. They don’t mind you so long as you don’t dig the wells. The herdmen of Gerar, the place he was at, they came in and fought with him over the water. He’d go and dig another, and more opposition. People are always going to try to deny you the water. In comes the flesh the world the devil to stop the work… to deny you water.

The Philistines were always bad in the Bible. They’re a picture of the world and the flesh. They’re always opponents of truth and God’s people. You know why they’d wanted to cut Isaac off from his dad’s wells? Because they were envious of how prosperous he was. They cut him off from the water, because they knew water was life, and if they can cut off Isaac from water, he’s going to struggle in life. We can’t go too far without water, you need to drink water or you’ll die. When you get disconnected from God, from God’s word, from truth, from salvation, from obeying him… you’re in big trouble in your life. That’s what the flesh will do, that’s what sinning will do, that’s what making compromises with the devil will do.

The land Isaac was in was promised to him, but a bunch of Philistines are dwelling in there making life rough. That’s the same for us really, we want to obey God, but we also have this sin nature in us which causes us trouble, a flesh nature which if we gratify and appease and serve… it’ll take us right away from the water of God. There’s a very real strife that a believer has over the water, so often we can be going quite well in our Christian life, but our flesh makes it’s demands on us, and it can really dry our life up. There’s not enough room for the both of them… you must by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh… one must win the battle. And Isaac won this battle, because he’d keep ridigging the wells and getting the water.

In this story is yet another wonderful picture, after Isaac redug the wells, God appeared to him. He may have known God’s word, but with this second revelation of God, Isaac found a place of praise and worship of God in his life. He found a place of relationship and fellowship. It’s one thing to know about God, it’s another thing to know God. When you decide to trust and obey God in your life, God will reveal himself to you. John 14:23 –  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. There’s not substitute for simply believing God’s word, and that’s what we see Isaac doing in this chapter, he obeyed God’s word. That’s what Abraham’s true children do, just as Isaac was his true child and the inheritor of the promise.

What did God do when he appeared to Isaac? Don’t miss this. God confirmed his word to Isaac! So many people have a God who doesn’t do this at all… because they don’t have the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… but a false god. A  god they’ve made up in their minds Romans 1 style, an idol. When God reveals himself to you, he doesn’t go around his word, but his revelation is through his word, he confirms his word… the SAME word, the SAME promises that he made to Abraham… to you! God confirmed the promise he made to Abraham to Isaac. Through the Holy Spirit, God will confirm his word and promises to us personally, and we enter the same promise just like Isaac did his father. So many Christians are so disconnected from God’s word, the Bible, but in God’s word is how God reveals himself to man. The just shall live by faith.

The gospel truths in this chapter are so strong. It truly is a divine book. No man could write this book. So often people try relegating the Bible to “Chinese whispers” and “word of man”… but no, we have the word of God. When you realize it’s God’s word, you might show it some more reverence and be a bit more careful what you do with it. He takes his word seriously, even if you don’t. And his word is what our salvation hinges upon. He’s only as good as his word, so if his word is no good, your salvation is no good. Isaac grew up with a dad who loved the Lord, who passed his faith on to his son… but now Isaac was tackling life on his own, it was up to him now, he had to take up the mantle or leave it on the ground just like Elisha had the decision to do. Abraham’s faith had been proved, but now Isaac’s was. What are you going to do in the famine? What are you going to do about those wells that have been dug in?

See, past generations are gone, and while they may have seen great works of God, and while they dug the wells and got the water flowing, we in the next generation now face a situation where the wells have been filled in. That’s the way it is today, and now the ball is in our court… what are we going to do? Do we even know the wells are filled in? We’ve gotten so cold on God we don’t even realize our plight. Isaac saw a need, and only the Holy Spirit can make you see what needs to be done. So many Christians need “convincing” of truth… but if you’re saved, you shouldn’t need convincing, it should be in you. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in your heart, and he teaches you what and where no man can teach you, he changes your spirit, your thinking, your mind. You shouldn’t need to be convinced and made to see the wells need digging, it should be in you to do it.

Redig those Abraham wells. Redig the life of trusting God and taking him at his word. If you say you’re a child of Abraham, shouldn’t you want to redig the wells he left you? Tried, tested and true wells, that’s the word of God. Tried, tested, true… everytime. Don’t settle for less. Maybe you’re confronting life on your own now, your safety net is gone… what now? Isaac was there, and he said, I’m redigging my father’s wells. If you don’t redig your father’s well, you’ll have nothing for your son, nothing to give someone else. We need to pass on the tried and tested and proven truth… we should settle for nothing less. Get all the earthly stuff, all that sin and lust and pride, all that greed and envy and selfishness, get it out your well and get the water. We’ve been left wells, we’ve been  left God’s word and God’s promises, but now it’s our turn, are we going to redig Abraham’s wells?

Jude 1:3 – Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

It’s worth contending for the wells that our fathers left us. They’re tried, they’re tested, they’re true. There’s salvation in those wells, just as I’m pretty sure Isaac saw salvation when the water came bubbling out the ground to feed himself, his family, his servants, his cattle. We’ve been left water, it may take some digging to get some junk out, but let’s get back to the wells of Abraham our father, and the water of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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