Genesis 26:23-33
And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. 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. 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. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 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; That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 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. And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.
I love this scene because Isaac finally comes to a place of settledness.
He goes up to Beer sheba, and there the Lord appears to him personally. After all of the moving, all of the contention, all of the striving, all of the hatred, the Lord speaks right into his situation and says, in essence, “Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will bless you.” That is what Isaac needed more than anything else. Before another well was dug, before another covenant was made, before any enemy came back around, the Lord spoke peace to his heart.
That is where strength always starts.
And notice what Isaac does. He builds an altar. He calls on the name of the Lord. He pitches his tent. Then his servants dig a well. I like that order. Worship first. Communion first. Calling on the Lord first. Then the settling. Then the digging. Isaac is no longer just moving from conflict to conflict. Now there is a deeper stability to his life. The altar is there. The tent is there. The well is there. Worship, rest, and supply all in one place.
Then who shows up?
Abimelech.
The very man who had sent Isaac away now comes looking for him. And not alone. He brings his friend and the chief captain of his army. Why? Because by this point the blessing of God on Isaac’s life is too obvious to ignore. They say it plainly: “We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.” That is a tremendous statement.
They had watched him.
They had opposed him.
They had pushed him away.
But now they cannot deny what they see.
“The Lord is with you.”
That is what happens when a man just keeps digging.
At first, the people around you may bring strife.
At first, they may bring contention.
At first, they may resist what God is doing in your life.
But if you keep walking with the Lord, keep digging, keep refusing bitterness, keep moving forward, there comes a point when even those who fought you have to admit that the hand of God is on you.
That is what happened here.
Abimelech had enough sense to realize, “We are not dealing merely with Isaac’s talent, Isaac’s personality, or Isaac’s perseverance. The Lord is with this man.” And once that becomes clear, the enemies come seeking peace.
That is very encouraging.
Because sometimes when people resist us, we think the resistance means the story is going badly. Not necessarily. Sometimes it is just one more stage on the way to a testimony they will eventually have to acknowledge. The Lord knows how to turn hostility into respect. He knows how to bring the very people who once shoved you away to the place where they say, “God is with you.”
And I like Isaac here too. He does not play games. He asks plainly, “Why are you coming to me, seeing you hate me, and have sent me away?” That is honest. Isaac is not naive. He remembers what happened. But neither is he bitter. He makes them a feast. He sits down with them. He lets peace happen. There is maturity there. He does not deny the past, but neither does he chain himself to it.
That is a good word.
Some people spend so much time rehearsing who opposed them that they cannot receive what God is doing now. Isaac does not do that. He tells the truth about the hurt, but he is still able to move in peace when peace is offered.
And then, as if the Lord is putting His own signature on the whole scene, that very same day the servants come and say, “We have found water.”
Of course they did.
Because when the Lord says, “I am with thee,” there will be water.
When the Lord says, “I will bless thee,” there will be provision.
When the Lord settles a man, the well will follow.
And Isaac calls it Shebah, tying it to the oath that had just been made, so the place becomes Beer sheba. It becomes a landmark of both provision and peace. The Lord gave him room, then the Lord gave him assurance, then the Lord gave him water, and even his former enemies had to stand back and say, “This man is blessed of the Lord.”
That is the fruit of just staying with it.
Keep digging.
Keep worshiping.
Keep calling on the Lord.
Keep refusing to camp in bitterness.
Because if you do, there will come a time when the blessing of God on your life becomes too plain to hide. Even the people who once resisted you will have to say, “The Lord is with thee.”
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