Did you know that you are mostly made of water? The average human being is fifty-five to sixty-five percent water. Water is the most prevalent thing in the human body. Its’s important for us to remain hydrated, so that everything will function properly.
I know about hydration.
When I first moved to Taiwan – the very first time I preached here, in
fact – right after church I fainted because I was dehydrated. There wasn’t enough water in my body for it
to function normally. I drank water and
after a short while I was back to normal.
We need water!
Water is also spiritual.
Today, I want to post on water from this passage of scripture:
Genesis 26:17-22 (NKJV)
26:17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. 19 Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
Water in The Desert
If you’ve ever been in the desert, you know how dry it can
be. The desert is brown and dry. It seems like not much is living, but when
rain does come, the desert absolutely comes to life. A carpet of colorful flowers blooms across
the desert floor. In the desert water
bings life.
Hagar was cast out of Abraham’s household into the desert to
die, but God showed her a well. She found
water! That water saved her life! So, water
is life – Look at what happens at a well in Samaria:
Jesus has arrived at a well in Samaria. There’s a woman who has come to the well to
draw water and Jesus asks her for a drink.
Look at what happens:
John 4:9-10 (NKJV)
4:9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
What is the gift of God?
The gift of God is Eternal life (Romans 6:23). The wages of sin is death but the gift of God
is Eternal life in Jesus. The living
water brings Eternal Life! Water has a spiritual
component. Water is a picture of the Word
of God. We should drink deeply of it;
stay hydrated in the God’s Word. It will
slake your thirst, and it cleanses. Jesus
said we are cleansed by the Words He has spoken:
John 15:3 (NKJV)
15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
The Word of God cleanses and Brings Eternal Life! Look at what Peter says in John 6:68. He’s
speaking to Jesus after all the multitudes have departed, and Jesus asks him if
they are leaving too:
John 6:68 (NKJV)
6:68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
“You have the Words of Eternal Life.” This is why we preach out of the Bible – The Word
of God – These aren’t the words of Chris – My words have no power to cleanse
you, my words don’t bring life, my words are not like water, but the Word of God
does those things. The Word of God is
like water.
We need water to live, we are mostly made up of water. We
NEED the Word of God. Do you thirst for
the Word of God? Have you dug a well of
God’s word to sustain you and keep you saved?
Did you happen to notice in our text who it was that stopped
up the wells? It as the Philistines once
again. Remember, what the Philistines
represent. They represent the cares of
the world. Worldly things will cause the
water to be stopped up. What happens is
that we focus our minds on the world.
We spend our time engaged in frivolous things: worldly
music, YouTube videos and other nonsense, and we are too busy to take time to
read the Word of God.
The Word of God brings life! YouTube videos can’t do
that. The first thing I do when I come
to prayer in the morning is my daily Bible reading. I follow a reading plan on my phone: Read the Bible in a Year. It’s on my phone because I almost always carry
my phone with me. I’ve dug a well in my
own life a well of the life-giving water of the Word of God.
When the Wells are Stopped Up
What about when those wells are stopped? In our text Isaac has come to the Valley of
Gerar and s re-digging the wells that Abraham had dug years before. Those well that Abraham had dug were stopped
up by the Philistines, The water was no
longer flowing.
It’s interesting to look at the meaning of the Gerar. The valley is called the Valley of
Gerar. Gerar is translated directly as
conflict or dispute. Hence, the valley
of Conflict. There are battles taking
place to keep Isaac from the water. The
Philistines stopped up the wells to make the land unfruitful. They didn’t want the land to produce
fruit. Nothing could be produced in the
desert without water.
The local shepherds disputed Isaac’s use of the water. They fought with his shepherds. So, he called the place Esek, which means
contention; argument; fight. We have to
fight to read our Bible. Do you know
that? Have you tried to spend time daily
trying to read your Bible, only to find it difficult to understand, or that you’re
too busy or tired to make the time? The
Struggle is real, I know.
Isaac moves on and re-digs another well, and once again the
local shepherds come against Isaac’s men.
This time he calls the place Sibnah.
Sibnah means hatred. Do you know
that we have an enemy that hates to see us reading the Word of God? It’s because he can’t dispute what’s in
there. He wants to keep you from it,
because then he can move on you! He can
shift your focus away from God and put it on the things of the world. He can take your mind off God’s promises and
put them on your problems, and keep you defeated, depressed and
despairing. Those words, those emotions
are not life. Those words are
hopelessness and death! That’s what the
enemy wants for you.
Re-digging the Well
When Isaac was resisted over the wells, he moved on and dug
another of the wells that Abraham had originally dug. The last was at Beersheba which is translated
as the seventh well. There were seven of
them. Seven in the Bible represents completion. So, Isaac faced contention at Esek
and hatred at Sibnah, but he continued to seek water until, at last he found a
place where they could dig and not have to fight for it.
This should encourage ypu, there will come a time when you
won’t have to fight to read the Word.
Just don’t give up, keep digging and you’ll find that place. A lot of times, what happens is that in the
midst of struggle, we give up. We
abandon the plan to re-dig and we begin to become dehydrated. There’s no water to keep us alive. This is a dangerous time, because no water
means no life. You lose track of God’s
promises. Things like:
All things work together for good for those who love Him!
I will open up the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing
that you won’t have room to contain!
Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life!
Those are all promises; those are words of life, but t’s
easy to forget them in the middle of life with all its problems. That’s why we need to fight for the Word of
God in our lives and minds. The water of the Word of God brings life.
John 4:13-14 (NKJV)
4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
Not just life, but Eternal Life!
No comments:
Post a Comment