Genesis 26:15-18
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. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 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 Philistines did not merely dislike Isaac. They tried to stop the flow.
They went back to the wells Abraham’s servants had dug and filled them with earth. They covered over the very places from which life giving water had once come. That is what envy does. It does not rejoice when a man is blessed. It looks for dirt. It looks for something to throw in the well. It looks for a way to shut down what God has opened.
And there are still people like that.
They look at a life touched by grace and say, “That is not fair.” They remember your past. They remember your failure. They remember what you did years ago. They hear the story and start hauling in the dirt. “I knew you back then.” “I heard what happened.” “I know what kind of person you were.” And with all of that, they try to plug up the flow of God’s forgiveness as though grace should dry up because of old sin.
But grace does not work that way.
If God has forgiven a man, the dirt people throw cannot cancel the mercy God has given. If God has chosen to bless, the envy of others cannot overturn His decision. People may fill in wells. They may cover things over. They may try to bury the testimony. But if the Lord is for a man, the water can flow again.
I love what Isaac does here.
Abimelech says, “Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.” Isaac is so blessed that the Philistines do not even want him around anymore. They can tolerate a weak man. They can tolerate a struggling man. But a man on whom the hand of God clearly rests makes them uneasy. So Isaac departs. He pitches his tent in the valley of Gerar. And then he does something simple and powerful.
He digs again.
He does not spend his energy arguing with every Philistine. He does not hold a grudge. He does not sit down in self pity. He does not say, “What is the use? They filled the wells in anyway?”
He digs again.
There are times in life when the enemy throws dirt into everything. Dirt into your testimony. Dirt into your ministry. Dirt into your marriage. Dirt into your joy. Dirt into your confidence. Dirt into your history. And if you are not careful, you will spend the rest of your days staring at the dirt instead of digging again.
But Isaac shows us a better way.
Go back to the wells. Open them up again. Clear away what the enemy packed in. Return to the places where living water once flowed.
And notice this too. Isaac called the wells after the names his father had called them. He did not try to invent a new source. He went back to what had already been given. There is something steadying in that. When life gets clogged with dirt and noise and envy and old accusations, sometimes the answer is not novelty. Sometimes the answer is return. Return to the old wells. Return to the place of promise. Return to the Word. Return to prayer. Return to the simple things God has always used to bring life.
Maybe that is where some of us are today.
The well has been stopped up. The flow feels buried. There is dirt everywhere. Some of it came from other people. Some of it came from the enemy. Some of it came from your own weariness.
Fine. Then dig again.
Do not let bitter people define your future. Do not let old failures cancel present grace. Do not let the dirt that others throw keep you from the water God has provided.
Beloved, there is still water in the well.
So clear it out. Open it up. And dig again.