Digging Wells Again
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. – Genesis 26:18
When my father started digging a well, we children all stood and watched the hole get deeper and deeper. It was frightening for me to see him disappear
into that hole, but it scared me even more when he put my brother into the bucket and let him down to retrieve a tool. I stood at the brink and
screamed and screamed until he was back above ground.
I had heard the story about the neighbor whose cow stumbled upon a long-forgotten well, and fell, tail first, into its depths. It took two horses and
several other neighbors with sturdy ropes to extract the cow from the wet and muddy bottom of that well. The cow developed pneumonia and died as
a result. Our neighbors were sad to lose the cow, but were happy that the cow had located the well, which had been filled with rocks and dirt,
but still produced water. They removed the debris that had fallen into it, and the well provided a good water supply. Over the years, the extra
well proved to be worth more than the cow.
Over time, we may allow the cares of life to obstruct our “well of salvation.” When this happens, we find the flow of Living Water to our souls is
restricted. We may have let circumstances stop up the springs, and our spiritual water has become clouded and stagnant. Those obstructions can
collect subtly, and we may not notice until we find we cannot get a prayer through to God. Possessions, the love of money, attitudes and feelings,
activities that rob us of prayer time, pursuits that take us away from church or distract us from following as closely to God as we should—all
these can become like stones or debris in our wells of living water.
A well that has no water supply, is stopped up, or is contaminated is only a hole in the ground. It is necessary for us to take stock and do some digging
and cleaning out once in a while to be sure we keep a clear and clean stream flowing in and out of our wells. It we have not had a dip in the living
waters lately, it is time to start digging!