Wed.’s Devo - Wells and Wine

Read: Genesis 26:17-27; Matthew 9:1-17; Psalm 10:16-18; Proverbs 3:9-10 Isaac moved back to the land of Abimelech in the Gerar Valley. This was where he had reaped 10iˆ0-fold before. He began unearthing the wells Abraham had dug and the Philistines had filled. He renamed them the names Abraham had given them proving they were their wells. The shepards of Gerar claimed it to be their well and Isaac gave up and called it Esek which means “strife”. The next well they argued over, Isaac renamed Sitnah which means “hostility and accusation.” The third well he dug proved to bring no contention so he named the well Rehoboth which means “open space”. Finally he had a place to live. Isaac moved on to Beer-sheba where God had appeared to him on the first night. This was also the well which had been a well of contention years earlier with Abraham and Abimelech. They had made a covenant and given it back to Abraham. Hagar would find that well and it would be her and Ishmael’s salvation. Not only had Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant, but God had made a covenant with Isaac telling him that he would bless him and his descendants and they would multiply on the earth. Abimelech, his advisor and his army commander (an intimidating party) came to pay Isaac a visit. They wanted to make a treaty with Isaac since they didn’t think they could fight him they decided to join him. It would be a peace treaty to leave each other alone. Isaac agreed and they made a treaty and they left. Isaac’s servants found a new well so Isaac named the well Shibah which means “oath. They built the town of Beer-sheba there. Esau married two of the Hittite women which brought Isaac and Rebekah much woe. When Isaac became old he wanted to pass on the blessing to his first born. Esau had given up his right as the first born and Rebekah wanted the blessing to go to Jacob, the one who treasured the right of first born. She concocted a plan to deceive Isaac into thinking Jacob was Esau and it worked. Jacob received the blessing and Esau received the curse. This made Esau want to kill Jacob so Rebekah came to his rescue again. She convinced Isaac to send Jacob to her brother Laban’s house so he wouldn’t marry a Hittite. Isaac agreed to let him go. In Matthew, Jesus spent his whole life trying to make new wineskins so he could put his new wine into them. The only way to make new wineskins was to change their way of thinking. He did miracles to help them with this switch. He forgave the man’s sin that had kept him paralyzed because that is what sin does. It paralyzes us. People were amazed that God would give such authority to humans but God wants to give us that same authority. Jesus did such things as eat with tax collectors explaining that it was people who recognized a need for a savior that he came to save. Lord, may we honor you so that our barns will be filled with grain and our vats overflow with good wine.