🌊 Isaac: From the Pit to Freedom

INTRODUCTION

One of the meanings of the word “Pit” is a hole, literally an opening. David considered it as such at one point and said in Psalm 40:2, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

The pit of despair is a biblical metaphor describing a situation of extreme spiritual, emotional, or physical distress from which one cannot escape alone. There are people who live literally sunk in every sense of the word for many reasons; David knew that God could pull him out of that situation. The story of Isaac is known as that of an “expert well-digger.”

Abraham had left him a legacy, not only of faith in God but also the capacity to get into problems and complicated situations. But he also had to learn to trust God, because this is where everything lies—our real issue.
If anyone is an “expert well-digger,” it's probably us, constantly getting into difficult situations. Let's look at what Isaac had to learn:

1. Isaac Came from a Legacy of Problems

a. Family inheritances of problems are daily bread. Generations often imitate what their parents do, and it's in difficult times that we tend to fall into pits because we mistrust God.

1) Vs 1 “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.” Genesis 26

• A crisis of famine almost led him to Egypt. Going to Egypt means returning to the past, to sin, living in disobedience and mistrust, seeking the wrong paths, making foolish decisions, and doing things based on one's own opinion “without counting on God.”
• God appears to him and says “do not go down to Egypt,” but to go to the land of the Philistines where He will bless him. While there, he copied the exact same action his father took years ago; he lied about who Rebekah was, just as Abraham lied about Sarah. (Vs 7-10 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”)

b. Isaac inherits promises, but also conflicts. (Vs 12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.)

c.

• God never abandoned Isaac. Even though famine came, the power of God was glorified. The text states how God prospered him; however, Isaac needed to learn to live in Freedom. Freedom is true prosperity in everything.
• People believe that living in freedom is doing whatever they want—that is called debauchery. But “Freedom” is living without greed, lust, envy, and even without the fear of losing.
• True “freedom” is a pure detachment from materialism, busyness, and looking for trouble.

2. Reopening the Same Wells

(And Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.)

a. There are those who live making the same mistakes over and over again, looking in the past, searching in already dry wells, wanting to live submerged. If anyone wants the blessing, they must let go of the wells that lead to despair. Digging and re-digging wasn't what God wanted for Isaac, and neither does He for us.

1) The Well of “Quarreling” (Esek) (Vs 19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 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 contended with him.)

• Esek means contention, displeasure, anger, quarreling. You don't fight for the blessing; you earn it through obedience. Grace isn't fought for; it's earned through obedience.
• Fighting with people because they don't love you or are envious of you is falling into contention. You know, Isaac had to let all that go and start thinking about what God could do.
• How many people kill themselves fighting over inheritances? Isn't that a way of falling into slavery rather than freedom?

2) The Well of Enmity (Sitnah) (Vs 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.)

• There are homes where God cannot prosper; they are battlefields, full of harsh disputes, wounds, and offenses. All of this brings curses.
• They fall into pits of despair over the same constant arguments—there is no respect, only hurtful words. Whatever blessing arrives vanishes because there is no freedom. (James 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.)
• The Philistines were envious of Isaac. Isaac needed to let go and say, “Leave it, I don't care, God will give us another.” You know, these wells Isaac opened were dead wells, not running water but stagnant.
• Since the Philistines couldn't have them, they sealed them. That's what envious people do. Are you able to give up your rights to be free?
• Let go of that well and leave it for them; maybe someone needs it. You have God.

3) The Well of Spaciousness (Rehoboth) (Vs 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”)

• In this well, God blessed him abundantly because Isaac learned to let go and not hold back. “Rehoboth” means broad places or Freedom.
• After this, Isaac worshiped. (Vs 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.)
• From there came the greatest blessing, the supreme blessing. True Freedom lies in obedience to God and complete trust in Him. If people make war against you, do not despair.
• If the enemy closes a door, God opens another because freedom consists of trusting in Him. The true water is rivers of living water. (John 4:14 “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”)

Conclusion

Full trust in God guarantees total freedom in what we have. A life of an altar causes greater doors to open than you can imagine. Some live off crumbs, while others learn to see God perform greater feats.

The blessing is not a bondage; growth is not an excuse. Freedom is Power. Don't dig any more wells where you will be stagnant and unable to advance. Seek God and you will see His glory.