Surviving the Valley

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Genesis 26:19 – And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.


Isaac made some of his father’s mistakes and he wound up in the same valley on the edge of Egypt without any water. He had to adapt real quick in order to survive the valley. He learned that:

The facts of the valley are apparent. First of all you may be in the valley a while. We all go through valley experiences in our life. The truth is that we spend more time in the valleys than on the mountain tops. But thank God, He is faithful to supply our needs in the valley! Others have been in the same valley you are in (vs. 18). Their wells may have been covered up with the dirt of the Philistines but you can reopen them and find the same fresh supply! Don’t dig new wells, reopen the old ones!

The foes in the valley are certain. Expect trouble when you try to do a good thing in the valley. There will be contention like at Esek (vs. 20), contempt like at Sitnah (vs. 21) and carelessness like at Rehoboth (vs. 22). Dig out those old wells anyway!

The fruit in the valley is encouraging (vs. 22). After much diligence Isaac saw that they could survive in this valley. Don’t wait till things ease up to start digging wells for God! Work in the valley, toil in the hard times and the fruit will come.

The fellowship in the valley is comforting (vss. 24-25) and the feast in the valley is reassuring (vs. 30). The Lord appeared to Isaac and assured him of His peace and His promises. As a result Isaac got his own priorities in order. He built an altar first and then set up a tent. The altar was for worship and the tent for wandering. Isaac would be a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth (Heb. 11:13). And then a miraculous thing happened – a feast with his enemies, and a covenant of protection. None of which would have happed if Isaac would have given up!