WMCAS

Topic        : The Four Wells
Speaker   : Pr Sam Dharam
Scripture  : Genesis 26:1-6
Date         : 7th Jan 2010

In Gen 26 , there was a famine. Famine has the ability to suck out the sustenance in the economy. It makes people want to move on to a better place. But we could also have a spiritual famine. Famines don’t last long. It is how we approach it that makes a difference. During the famine in Genesis 26 , Isaac was thinking of going to Egypt, a land of abundance.

When I first when to the US, I got confused just trying to buy a box of cereals cos there were isles of cereals and I left without buying. I didn’t know which one my wife would approve. I went to another grocery store and saw a lady dumping juicy chicken into the bins. It’s a land of abundance. You have no idea of what a famine feels like. Isaac was already giving word to his family about leaving for Egypt. God stopped him and asked him to dwell on the land. God said He will bless Isaac. Isaac must have wondered how it was possible based on the current reality. For the most part people will walk away because they cannot reconcile that the Word is for the present. Isaac’s father had gone through a similar experience.

In v12 Isaac sowed in the land and reaped 100 fold in the famine. He began to prosper until he became very prosperous. The Philistines envied him and filled up the wells his father had dug up. The King told Isaac to go away from them as he was mightier than them. Can you imagine a King coming to a stranger and asking him to leave. That is the power of the prosperity. God wants us to prosper no matter the current reality. The real prosperity is the well-being of your soul. As a church as we prosper too we will begin to reposition ourselves. In order to experience what Isaac went through we have to employ the Word of God.

Isaac agreed to leave and dug his another well further on. A group of people then came and quarreled with him. They claimed that the water belonged to them. They consider the water their rights. Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it. There is antagonism. But sometimes the problem is compounded by other factors. We sometimes take other people’s offenses and fight. We fight for ownership. When someone infringes that, it agitates us.

Isaac was around 40 years old. His wife was barren and he pleaded with God. His wife Rebecca conceived and had twins. At birth, she felt violent kickings of the babies. God said 2 nations were in the womb. God said the older will serve the younger. Jacob came out holding on to his brother’s heel.

Isaac then dug another well and again there was an argument. A group of people came and said the land was theirs. They are now fighting over territory. Isaac called the land Sitnah. A barrier comes up and they become enemy territory.

Sometimes we bring our quarrels from both wells, Esel and Sitnah.

We set up ourselves to be cut off from the full spiritual authority… the wells of Esek (rights) and Sitnah (territory). We make idols of things and we get upset when anybody touches it.

Isaac then dug yet another well. This time he waits and no one makes a claim. He named the well Rehoboth, the Lord has made room.

We are faced with obstructions and space (room) would be good. Sometimes we feel that everything is closing in. We need the space so that we can feel that our inheritance eludes us. This is because we drink from both the wells of Esek and Sitnah. God told Jeremiah that even before the foundations of earth were laid, He knew Jeremiah and called him by name. Our God is a personal God. We are the object of His love. We mess it up ourselves by allowing Esek and Sitnah to infiltrate our lives.

We should drink from the well of Rehoboth. Sometimes we allow prejudices, distrust (Esek and Sitnah) to stand in the way. In a football game, 40000 people will shout with elation when a goal is scored. Yet when God touches down in our midst, we forget to drink from the well of Rehoboth. While many of us are productive we are not responsive.

Isaac had 2 years of peace. He went to another place and dug another well. After he had hit the water, the King Abimelech came with Ahuzzah and Phicol. Isaac asked them why they came as they hated him. They told him that they had seen the Lord blessing him. They asked to be allowed to make a treaty with him. In days of old, 3 were needed to make a covenant so that if there is a breach of the covenant, the rest will remind when there is a lapse or make sure there is accountability. In our churches today there is lack of accountability. Usually we hide behind forgiveness. When there is a hand of God upon us, people will notice. Isaac called this 4th well Shibah; the city of Beer Sheba exists till this day.

1. If we say this is our church, then we need to drink from the well of Rehoboth.
2. The next thing we need to do is to dig another well when we go home, dig the well of Shibah.