WTFMT 83 (FROM HGM ON 13 OCT 20)

WILDERNESS TRUTHS FOR MODERN TIMES-83

TEXT:  "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."  (Psalms 23:2-3)

 

 I.   A PLACE OF REST

 

     A.  Isaac came to Beersheba after living in Gerar a distance of about 22 miles.  Gerar was the capital of Abimelech King of the Philistines.  Isaac's experience in Gerar was one of strife over wells.

           "And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him."  (Genesis 26:20)

 

    B.  When Isaac moved far enough away from Gerar the strife ceased.  He found enlargement in Rehoboth (meaning "room or space").  He had comfort, a large household, and great holding of cattle. 

          "And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."  (Genesis 26:22)

 

     C.  Yet he left this land of room and fruitfulness for the wilderness of Beersheba.  

           "And he went up from thence to Beersheba. ²⁴ And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake."  (Genesis 26:23-24)

 

     D.  A walk with God will entails the leaving comfort and the making on one's way toward uncertainty.  The Hebrew verb ("nahal"  #5095 translated "leadeth") indicates more than "to lead."  "Nahal" is saying that the Shepherd brings a person from one place of water to another place of water.

    

     E.   In the wilderness a place of water is also a place of rest.  The strife over wells which Isaac experienced in Gerar is over.  This rest is reflected in the name "Sheba" which means "seven."  From the word comes the Hebrew word "shabat"  (sabbath) or the day of rest.

 

     F.  Rest is a renewing.  This relates to the wilderness of Beersheba as a place of new beginnings.  The New Covenant is in the picture here.  This enfolded in the name "Sheba," also meaning "oath" (strong's #7650-7652), having to do with repeating an agreement seven times.  Abimelech comes to Isaac at Beersheba to make a covenant (Genesis 26:26-31), or to renew the covenant which he had made earlier with Abraham (Genesis 21:32).

 

    G.  Abraham, Isaac, and Hagar discovered water (rest) in the wilderness of Beersheba that led to a covenant.  We too are brought into the wilderness to discover water and rest.  We too are brought into the wilderness to discover God's adequacies that will lead to a covenant between God and us.

 

   H.  Unlike Hagar the children of Israel never found rest they never saw their inadequacy.  This replaces Hagar's spent bottle of water which represents her inadequacy.  The truth moving in this story are reflected in the Gospel of John,  Chapter 4.

 

 II.  PARTING THOUGHTS

 

      A.  Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus said to her,

            "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:¹⁴ But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."  (John 4:13-14)   In the New Covenant this "well of water springing up into everlasting life." is provided for the "whosoever" in John 3:16.  The well in you is provided for your own sake and the sake of others.

     

      B.  The well replaces Hagar's little bottle of water.  It replaces as it did in the life of the Samaritan woman the coming again and again to those things which temporarily satisfy.

 

      C.  The meager supply, the dissatisfying supply the insufficient supply, is inundated by the Well.  The focus is changed from the supply to the Supplier.