CAN YOU DIG IT? QUIT COMPLAINING AND FIND A SHOVEL!
SOMEONE KEEPS STOPPING UP MY WELL.
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
TEXT: FOREVER CHANGED AT THE WELL. She left her water jug at the well… JACOB’S WELL IS A TESTIMONY.
John 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
John 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
LESSON: IT IS NEVER A WASTE OF TIME TO DIG A WELL. DON’T GROW WEARY IN WELL DIGGING!
*Define WELL: a symbol of life, a shaft sunk in the ground, a deep hole for water; to dig, to drill to access liquid,
*You can use a bucket, pipe or pump to pull water out; the average well can be from 100 to 500 feet deep. In Biblical times wells were a symbol of a thriving community. To dig a well requires faith, a shovel, effort and depending on GOD!
As a young man we lived in OLIVER SPRINGS, TENNESSEE. There were springs all over the hill sides. Most were what we called WET WEATHER SPRINGS. The water flowed freely when there was a lot of rain. When hot dry summer came almost all the springs went dry. They were almost useless to sustain life. When the rains came the springs flowed. When the rains stopped so did most of the springs.
I was at the hospital with a coal miner as he was dying from black lung. His name was McCOWAN. He had been in a coma several hours. When he woke up he said: “YOU KNOW A WET WEATHER FRIEND IS NOT WORTH MUCH. YOU CAN’T COUNT ON THEM WHEN YOU NEED THEM.” I understood what the dying man was saying.
GRAB YOUR SHOVEL! IT IS TIME TO DIG A WELL:
*The well was a symbol of life. In Biblical times it took from two weeks to two months to dig a good viable well. The *deeper the well the greater the danger to those digging the well became. There was always a danger of the well’s walls *collapsing on the workers. Those digging the well would place the dirt in buckets and those above the ground would *empty the buckets of dirt.
* The deeper the well the more pure the water was. A deep well has sweet, cool water that is life sustaining.
I HAVE ALWAYS HEARD: YOU PROBABLY DON’T APPRECIATE THE WELL UNTIL THE WATER GOES DRY?
WE NEED GOD TO OPEN OUR EYES THAT WE MAY SEE THE DIVINE PROVISION OF LIVING WATER. HAGAR WAS IN A BAD SHAPE. HAGAR AND ISHMAEL ARE GOING TO DIE, THE LACK OF WATER. YET THERE WAS WATER RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER… HAGAR HURT AND EMOTIONS CAUSE HER NOT SEE CLEARLY THE WELL RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. .
Hagar and Ishmael met God through a miracle in the wilderness. Ishmael and Hagar had a promise from God that God would bring them into a great nation from Ishmael. Hagar had a GOD EXPERIENCE. GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Genesis 21:15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
THERE IS A WELL OF LIFE SAVING, LIFE GIVING WATER WHEN WE ARE HOPELESS AND HELPLESS. God has a well of living water before you. While there is a well, you must fill the canteen, you must see and put forth the effort.
THE CLAIM: THE WATER IS OURS? DIGGING A WELL ABRAHAM --- KNEW THAT DIGGING WELLS WAS NOT JUST ABOUT TODAY. THE WELL WAS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. HISTORY RECORDS ABRAHAM AND ISAAC DUG AT LEAST 7 WELLS. ABRAHAM KNEW FOR LIFE TO BE SUSTAINED AND THRIVE YOU HAD TO HAVE AN ABUNDNCE OF WATER.
Abraham built altars and dug wells all his days and he taught his son TO DIG WELLS. Enemies will love to hinder you and knock you down, then keep you down. They will stop up your well of living water. I cannot get people to quit hindering your well digging. I want to challenge you GET UP AND RE-DIG YOUR WELL --- WE MUST RE-STORE THE WELLS. BY FAITH. FAITH KNOWS THE NEXT GENERATION LIFE’S BLOOD MIGHT DEPEND ON THIS WELL. MOVE ON AND DIG AGAIN. WALK AWAY. DON’T FUSS. DON’T ARGUE. A STOPPED UP WELL MEANS DEATH … LEARN TO DIG WELLS!
Genesis 26:6 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. 13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
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. 19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Genesis 26: 21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD WILL CAUSE US TO QUIT COMPLAINING AND PICK UP THE SHOVEL AND DIG ANOTHER WELL. DIGGING THIS WELL WILL MAKE US STRONGER.
Genesis 26: 24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
THE ENEMY SEES GOD’S BLESSINGS AND HAS A CHANGE OF HEART.
Genesis 26:26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. 27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28 And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
GOD’S SWEET SPIRIT HONORS THOSE THAT KEEP DIGGING… QUIT LISTENING TO THE NEGATIVE CROWD THAT WANTS TO STOP UP YOUR WELLS. QUIT COMPLAINING AND GRAB YOUR SHOVEL. NEGATIVE PEOPLE WILL STOP UP YOUR WELL. DIG AGAIN.
Genesis 26: 32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. 33 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
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.
THE FEUD, HOSTILE --- EXPECT OPPOSITION. LET US DISCUSS WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT TO STOP UP A WELL? THEY TOO COULD DRINK FROM THE WATER. THE PHILISTINES NOT ONLY WANT TO STOP UP THE WELLS. THEY HATE GOD AND WANT TO HINDER THE MOVE OF GOD. LIFE IS SO DISCOUARGING WHEN YOU GET THE WELL DUG AND YOUR ENEMIES COME AND FILL IT UP.
The Philistines were a war machine. They were bitter, angry people motivated by fear and cruel, mean and hostile attitudes.. The Philistines made a false claim they owned the land and the wells. Want to remember a couple famous Philistines? GOLIATH THE GIANT was a Philistine. Remember how he cursed God and God’s people 40 days twice a day? Remember DELILAH the wicked woman that destroyed the strong man Samson. She was a Philistine.
ARE WE GOING TO GIVE UP OR WILL WE MAN UP? GOD BLESSED ABRAHAM AND ISAAC TO THE POINT THAT THEY WERE REAPING 100 FOLD… A 100 FOLD IS REAPING 7 TO 10 TIMES THE HARVEST IN ONE YEAR. WHEN GOD’S BLESSING COME, EXPECT OPPOSITION TO GET YOU TO COME DOWN OFF THE WALL AND TO DISCOURAGE YOU.
The physical and spiritual enemies want to stop up your wells and hinder the flow of the living water.
DON’T BE A KNOT HEAD… WE MUST EXPECT OPPOSITION THE PHILISTINES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JEALOUS AND HATED ISRAEL, GOD’S PEOPLE. THE PHILISTINES LOVED TO STOP UP ABRAHAM AND ISAAC’S WELLS. THE WELLS WERE A SIGN THAT GOD WAS BLESSING.
God uses thorns and enemies to make his people better. Every time Abraham and Isaac dug a well they learned more and got stronger. Each time Isaac re-digs his dad’s wells he and his men become stronger.
ABIMELECH THE KING OF THE PHILISTINES KNOWS GOD IS BLESSING AND HE MAKES 2 SEPARATE COVANENTS WITH ISAAC.
Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. 23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba. 24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
CONCLUSION: God honored Abraham and Isaac with his DIVINE PRESENCE. ALL COULD SEE THAT ABIMELECH HATED ABRAHAM AND ISAAC. Abimelech could see God’s blessings upon ISAAC. ABIMELECH could not beat Isaac.
I read a story where several generations lived on a farm and shared the well. The water had always been so good. One day the water started smelling bad. They poured chemicals in the water, still bad. As they pumped the water it even tasted bad. Grandpa went to town and purchased silver paint and painted the pump. The water still tasted bad. Finally they called the farm agent and explained the water was bad. They painted the pump and it was still bad. The agent came out and smelled the water. He agreed. They pulled the pump out of the well and there was the pet cat dead. All their external work could not help the internal problem. They removed the cat’s body. Then flushed the water out of the well. Soon the well was back to cool, clean water again.
My dear friend, when your well gets stopped up, quit complaining and dig another well. God’s blessing will ultimately bring victory over the enemies. We will have cool clean water again. KEEP DIGGING. The well is a symbol of a thriving community.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
