October 8th, 2013

Genesis 21:25 — And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.

I’m not sure where this idea came from as there’s no shortage of rain in Southwest Florida — especially not this summer!
In Palestine, water was a more serious matter because there was a long dry spell,between the end of the rain latter rains in March, and the start of the early rains in November. That made digging and ownership of wells really important, so it’s not surprising that Abraham was very concerned to protect his rights in his negotiations with Abimelech (which, by the way, means “father of kings”).
“Interesting story,” I hear you say, “but what’s it got to do with me?” So here’s what’s being going round in my head:What do I do when my well is running dry, when my spiritual life is not going so well? Sometimes I’m afflicted by what John Bunyan describes in his autobiographical “Grace Abounding To The Least Of Sinners” — “I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible, than I could well tell how to stand under; and yet at another time, the whole Bible hath been to me as dry as a stick; or rather, My heart hath been so dead and dry unto it, that I could not conceive the refreshment, though I have looked it all over.” There it is. Lack of refreshment from a visit to the well.
Do you want to hear my magic answer? Well here it is — I haven’t got one! But I think Abraham’s reaction to finding his well filled in is instructive. He went to the right person, and made the appropriate covenant offerings. So when it comes to spiritual dryness, who’s the right person and what are the right covenant offerings?
I don’t really need to tell you who the “who” is, do I? God owns our spiritual life, of course — so it’s sure that we need to be right with Him when it seems like the spirit well has dried up. But what else should we be paying attention to?
Now I’m not saying that all spiritual dryness is caused by sin — far from it — but there is this interesting passage in Hosea (5:15-6:3):

I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the Lord : for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord : his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

If The Lord feels we are not, perhaps, truly and sincerely seeking after Him it seems He will turn away, and the well will run dry — but if we acknowledge our offenses, seek Him early, return to Him and follow Him then He will return like the former and latter days and refill the well.
I do think taking prayer or study, or worship, lightly might play into this — no matter how much we deny it even to ourselves. Thinking about Abraham and the well of Beersheba made me wonder. If he had been watching and taking care of his well, could Abimilech’s men have moved in an filled it up? Could it be that sometimes my well gets to run dry because I am not always diligently taking care of it?