For thousands of Malian women in the northern city of Gao, the day starts in the middle of the night. Women tie on veils, grab jerry cans and walk through the sandy streets in hopes of getting a good spot in line.
they are not waiting for a black friday sale…
tickets to a show…
a vaccination at her local clinic…
to see a doctor…
she is in line waiting for water… Just ask Aminata. She got to the well at dawn, but a long line had already formed. Some women had been waiting since 3 a.m.
Aminata waited. And waited.
The sun came up.
The heat started in.
Soon, women who had arrived before her swished by, balancing the day’s water on their heads.
After five hours of inching forward, she got to the well.
But it was too late. All that was left were the dregs, a grainy, tea-colored slurry. With the well dry, Aminata had two choices:
Rely on the Niger River for water, a chocolate-brown, slow-moving broth that slithers by the edge of town.
Or wait for the slow seep of water back into the well.
Genesis 26:18 (KJV)
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.
PRAYER
the trouble with old wells is that we think that the way it provides is the way it has always provided.
We were not there when our forefathers dug the well, we didn't see how full and powerful it was in its prime.
We have grown up spiritually beside a diminished flow. We have made the assumption that this is the normal rate of things.
Jesus has stirred me this week and has reminded me, some of us are depending on wells that have been filled in by the enemy.
Others have been filled in by life…
While there are still some that have been filled in by this world…
I've come today to remind us, Isaac came to the wells of his father and made a simple statement,”THIS WILL NOT DO!”
He looked around and saw the contamination…
He recognized the handiwork of the enemy…
He knew that there was more water there than he was seeing…
The enemy is cunning, He understands humanity, he has been dealing with us for thousands of years.
He knows we are self centered and selfish.
He knows that if the water is totally cut off, we would re-dig the well with out hesitating.
So he will leave it just operational enough that we can find enough water for us, but there is no room or substance for anyone else…
So we sit by a seeping well, it produces just enough that that gets us from sunday to sunday.
We took everything it had las Sunday, when we left it was dry…
Wednesday night we come and inspect a muddy we… (who’s preaching? what songs are they doing?)
Then we return the next Sunday to find there just enough refreshment has seeped in to satisfy our soul…
but not enough to revive another… and we pray “JESUS SAVE THEM!”
Ezekiel 47, the prophet saw a trickle of water flowing from the temple. Im sure he was content to see the provision, But God wanted him to have the full understanding.
As God Gave him the tour, the waters rose around him till it was deep enough to swim in, a river to great to wade across.
I've come to remind you, what you have been experiencing is not all your well will produce…
If your content, God bless you! But I believe there are some here today that is ready to see what Jesus has in available to them.
Some of us have watched as the well produced less and less until we alone can service on it.
We have been praying for Jesus to repair it, we know something isn't like it was in days gone by, but we don’t know what to do, so we sit beside the well like the shepherds at Paddan…
waiting till we have enough help to remove the debris. There were 3 shepherds and Jacob at the well and all the did was talk about moving the stone..
The bible states that it was custom that they would sit by the well and wait till they had enough men arrive that they could move the stone.
But when a certain shepherdess by the name of Rachel arrived, Jacob was so smitten with her that he went to the stone, and by himself moved it to restore the flow of water…
theres a sidebar sermon in that. Jesus is the rock, when we are moved, we can move him!
I’m looking to do some well repair this morning…
signs your well is running dry
Spitting and Sputtering
Acts 4:31
English Standard Version (ESV)
31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
this was a prayer meeting or renewal, not long after Acts 2:38. They had been told not to preach Jesus anymore….
Threats and fighting brought their HG level low, But they knew how to replenish their levels…
Taste
Psalm 34:8
English Standard Version (ESV)
8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
If its leaving a bad taste in your mouth, its may not be Godly or pleasing to God.
Cloudy Appearance
sand and dirt in water
2 Corinthians 6:14
King James Version (KJV)
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Matthew 6:24 tells us we can not service two masters…
If your not seeing clearly, perhaps there is some contamination…
Good new, where sin abounds grace does much more abound…
We need to re-dig some wells
I dont know what you need to fix, BUT you do!
prayer
fasting
passion
compassion
personal evangelism
faithfulness
your calling
etc.
WORSHIP
Long before Jacob came to the well, before he saw Rachel, before he found his purpose and direction…
his father had dug them out and made them flow again.
what you are doing will not just bless you, but it will provide for the next generation…
I promise you this, as long as the Lord tarries, there will be a preacher to preach to the next generation…
In closing i want to share something that Issac overcame…
If you read Genesis 20 and Genesis 21:25-34 along with Genesis 26:18 you will see something very interesting. Isaac went through EXACTLY the same issues as his father Abraham.
the same issues with his wife in Gerar
the same struggle about the wells with Abimelech and his servants.
Isaac did something his father did not do, he overcame.
In Genesis 21, Abraham suffered the injustice of having the wells he dug seized by Abimelech's servants. However we do not read where Abraham persevered and got his wells back. Instead, He complained about it.
In Genesis 26, Isaac faces the same fight as his father over the wells.
Bit isaac did not sit down and com pain about the situation…
he kept digging until he overcame Abimelech's men and reclaimed the wells.
We will have to overcome situations our fore-fathers faced.
We can not fight those battles, with out a life giving flow…
ITS TIME TO SAVE THE WELLS!
