Dig

At the Saint Louis Zoo we mostly enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit and spent a few hours in that exhibit alone. We enjoyed an activity where you dig for dinosaur fossils. Jay was growing frustrated as he could not uncover a fossil. To make things more frustrating for him, Ellie was going around pushing the fossils deeper into the ground because making the challenge more difficult seemed exciting to her. I continued to encourage Jay that there were fossils. It was a promise. My common phrase to Jay was “keep digging!” To which Ellie would respond “never give up!” Guess what? He finally found his fossil and we all celebrated.

Genesis 27:12-33 tells a  story of a time when God commands Isaac to remain in the land of his father, Abraham and dig for water. Doesn’t seem like a difficult task but during this time they were facing  a famine. 

Years prior to this, Abraham dug and defended wells that continued to hold water—and his enemies hated it. When Abraham died, the responsibility  of the wells were left forsaken. The Sea People from Caftor stopped up those wells, destroying the benefits that a well brings to a community.  Isaac, Abraham’s son, inherited the challenge to bring the wells back to life. Guess what? Like his dad, he too faced opposition from the Philistines. They drove him away from his wells. So, Isaac pointed his community toward the task of re-digging his father’s wells. Once again, the Lord’s promise to prior generations was full-filled. There was water! 

In life we will sometimes face one opposition after another while “digging” where God has called us to be. 

People will try to stand in the way. There will be individuals and groups who are against us. They won’t fight with us but they will work against us. In a similar way, like the sea people, they will stop up our wells. Will we continue to dig for the promises of God? Will we ignore the ignorance of those against us? Will we stay faithful to God when everyone is telling us to give up and others are standing in our way? 

There is water in the well. Just keep digging.