Rehoboth, The Lord Has Given Us Room

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 26:22 NIV).

Progress is through opposition. When Isaac dug wells the water was disputed over and he was opposed. But wells with plenty of water was an absolute necessity in those times.

Without water his flocks would not survive. So he had to pursue his objective of getting water even when it meant digging a third well in rapid succession.

It seems that the Philistines did not mind Isaac reopening the wells that his father Abraham had dug earlier. These wells the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. The Philistines might have thought that with Abraham dead there will be no claim on the wells.

But Isaac had different ideas. Note well that conquests should not stop when the visionary or the pioneer passes away. The good work has to continue. So also was the case in later years when Moses passed away and Joshua took up the mantle of leadership to take the Israelites into the Promised Land.

But the dispute and opposition came when Isaac was pressing ahead to dig fresh wells. You doing the Lord’s work is not simply dreaming of past achievements. But His work demands action today.

The good work of the past still has value. But God wants you to break new ground ahead and dig fresh wells. You cannot stop moving ahead thinking of the opposition you might face. That will come anyway.

And it is only when you keep moving ahead that God will provide you with room to flourish in the land. He will not show this favor to those who keep still doing nothing to move ahead. But the favor of “room” is given to those who move forward in spite of opposition to their work.

And God has kept a time when those who quarrel with you will themselves leave you alone. That is the time that the Lord gives rest. In later years you can find that during the times of kings like Solomon and Asa the land had rest.

And during those times they built the city and fortified it. So “Rehoboth” or “room” is achieved when you keep moving forward in fresh conquests in the Lord’s work. It is given by the Lord for you to flourish in the land.

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