WHICH COUNTRY DO YOU LIVE IN?
Part 2

“The Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.
The princes dogged the well, the nobles of the people dogged it,
by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves”
(Numbers 21:17,18).

We read last week how God challenged Isaac to stay in His land. How did he live in God’s land, even though ye was yet a stranger in it?

HE SOWED

Isaac had much cattle and herds, but Genesis 26:8 tells us he was there a long time before he really felt settled. It is not until verse 12 that it says: “Then Isaac sowed in than land.” He branched out from being a cattleman and shepherd to also sowing crops. When he took this step of faith God blessed him and verses 12, 13 (ESV) tells us that Isaac “reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.”

We can’t reap until we sow. God wants us to sow in His land--to put all our passion, time, and effort into sowing that which will bring forth a harvest for eternity. Many women are sadly wooed back to Egypt. They grasp after material possessions and the status of being in the workforce, but in doing so they leave behind their greatest career of raising children which is an eternal work. Each precious child is an eternal soul, a gift from the Father. As we sow into their lives we reap an eternal harvest.

Galatians 6:7, 8: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

HE DUG WELLS

Soon we read about Isaac digging wells. His father, Abraham, had also sojourned in this land and dug wells. However, after he died the Philistines stopped them and filled them up with earth. Now, many years later, Isaac gets to work (or gets his servants to work) to re-dig them.

We have to dig wells in God’s land too. Not one well, but many wells. There are wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3). Notice the plural for wells! There is everything we need in our God. He is All-sufficient. He is More than Enough. But we have to dig wells to find Him, to know Him, and to experience the fullness of all that He is and all He has planned for us.

It’s hard work to dig wells, especially back in Isaac’s day. Did they even have steel shovels? Numbers 21:18 tells us that in Moses’ time they dug the well with their scepters and staffs--the Hebrew word is “walking sticks.” It was hot, perspiring work. Wells don’t appear out of nowhere. We have to faithfully and diligently dig into God’s Word each new day. We have to meditate, study, and search. We have to dig deeper and deeper until we find the springs of living water.

The first well that Isaac’s servants reopened was “a well of springing water” (Genesis 26:19). It was not just a well, it was a spring! What rejoicing as they jumped and leaped for joy to find a running spring! Oh how we also rejoice when we find these bubbling, everlasting wells.

As Jesus sat on Jacob’s well (which was a deep well) at Sychar and spoke to the Samaritan woman He said: “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” (John 4:14). The words “springing up” mean “to gush, leap or jump up.”

But the rejoicing didn’t last long. Even though they hadn’t put in the hard work, the “herdmen of Gerar” wanted this life-giving well and strove against Isaac’s servants. Isaac called the well Esek, meaning “contention” (Genesis 26:19,20).

Just because you are seeking God and receiving life-giving truths from His wells, it doesn’t mean life will be perfect. The more you pursue God and walk in His ways, the more you receive strife and contention--often from family, the ones you love most. The more you leave behind the deceptions of this world that are even in the hearts of many in the church, the more you are ridiculed.

Don’t be surprised. And don’t react with hurt and bitterness. What did Isaac do? Get mad and demand they keep the well which was rightfully his, not only by their hard work, but because it belonged to his father before him? No. He moved on. Check out: 1 Peter 2:19-23; 3:9 and 1 John 2:6.

Just keep digging. Never give up. There are many more wells of salvation to dig yet!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father God, that all my wells are in you. Save me from going down to “Egypt” to find the source of my every need and longing. I know that I can only find it in You. Please woo me by Your Spirit to dig more and more wells. I want to live a life that continually springs up, not only for my own source, but to give the water of life to many others. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’ll keep digging wells no matter what contention or strife I face.