It was almost 20 years ago that we had, what Nigel and I call, our ‘holiday from hell’. It was the beginning of a year of terrible tormenting fear. I don’t think there was a day that my face wasn’t soaked with tears. My days just seemed like one long panic attack and my nights were filled with torment. I was desperate for help and went to all the counsellors and leaders around my life who I thought could help. They all saw the problem, but no one brought any relief from the constant onslaught. Not many people had heard of panic attacks at that time, there weren’t the numerous articles that we have access to today. I didn’t know what was happening to me, I had never heard of this, I thought I was losing my sanity. I can remember wondering while pregnant with my first child whether I would be sent away from my husband and baby to a mental institution. I cried out to God to deliver me and yet no immediate relief came. Despite the many doubts whether a God existed who would let me go through such a time, I dug into Him clinging to the thin thread of hope in my heart that in Him I would find my salvation from this horrendous time.
My journey through that season of my life is a story to be told, but here I want to say that in that season a well was dug in my life. A well that went deep into the heart of God. I still daily bring “living water” up out of this well in my life, it continues to refresh me and others around my life. I remember some time after the most intense part of this season in my life sitting at my hairdresser while she cut my hair. She said to me what many have said since that day. She said that there was a peace around me like a substance and that she felt like rubbing herself in it so that it would permeate her too. Nigel and I could only laugh about it later, thinking, “Oh, if only you knew!”
In Bible times wells were dug and often named according to the experience of the owners at that time.
Genesis 26:22, “He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.””
Genesis 21:30-31, “He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.” So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.”
Hagar didn’t dig the well that was named from her experience – her encounter with God – someone else dug it. “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.” (Genesis 16:13-14).
Later in Genesis 24:62-63, we see Isaac walking by this very well, “Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.” Isaac had the constant reminder of the revelation that God is “the God who sees me”. He could daily draw up water from that well.
Sometimes as we find ourselves in dry circumstances in our lives, in need of Living Water and we have the opportunity to dig into God and find the Spring of Life. This well of refreshing you have received can become not only a life-long source in your life but one for others and the generations after you. The Samaritan woman was found at Jacob’s well, a father from years back. This well that Jacob had obviously dug many years before, still brought up water for the generations after him. We also see Isaac reclaiming the wells dug by his father in Genesis 26:18, “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.”
Don’t take for granted the wells of Living Water that God has provided in your life, whether they are ones you have had the privilege to dig or name, or the ancient wells of others that you have discovered and drink from. Name your Well of Life, and as you walk past on occasions in your life, remember the Revelation, the Life, the Living Water given to you there. There may be wells that the enemy has stopped up in your life or generation. Like Isaac, dig them again and know, once God has given you a well in the spirit, you will eternally have access to it and can go there any time to draw water for yourself or for others desperate for the same drink of Living Water.
