Join me for my Sunday Message, "Digging Wells in the Valley of Gerar." In Genesis 26 we have the details of the nomadic herdsman and son of Abraham, Isaac, resettling in the Valley of Gerar, located in the south of what is now known as the Gaza strip in Palestine. His Father Abraham had once lived there grazing his flocks and herds in season. However, when Isaac returned to Gerar he found the wells that his father had previously dug to provide fresh water for his animals and servants had been "stopped up" by the rival Philistine herdsmen in the area.

The scriptures record that Isaac "reopened" the stopped wells and dug new ones beside. However, this did not end the dispute with the rival herdsmen who believed all the water rights in the valley should belong to them. Isaac kept digging new wells until there was no more dispute as to their ownership. Water was a very valuable resource in the arid climate of the "high desert." Survival in such a climate would depend upon keeping the existing wells open and finding new sources of water as well.

The lesson I wish to draw from this is the fact that through much of life we allow the adversary to "fill up our wells" with the refuse and rubbish that remains after disappointment, failure, the remnant of poor choices and broken relationships pass through our lives. We can even accumulate this stoppage while doing honorable and advantageous things if we do not keep our eyes and hearts fixed upon the Master. Let us all propose today that we will allow the Holy Spirit to take His "excavation tools" and begin to dig again the wells of Salvation from which we will draw water with great joy. While the reopened well of Living Water may not resolve all our issues of present it will certainly go a long way to refresh us and give us joy in the journey.