God is Restoring Old Wells

On a recent morning, the Lord spoke “Beersheba” to me. As I dug into it, I found that this Biblical well is a deep symbol of the opportunity the Lord is inviting us into now. As I began to write this word, I mistyped and wrote: “God is re-stirring old wells”. I instantly thought of stirring in the context of the stirring of the water in the pool of Bethesda. The Lord did repeated healings there. While we get to hear about one in John 5:1-9, we know that the sick and lame were gathered there because God had healed there before. It was on certain occasions when the water was stirred. It doesn’t say how often this happened, but we know the stirring of the water was a divinely timed window. God is so purposeful in His times, seasons, and cycles, and when He brings something back around, there is a redemption attached to it. The same is true when He restores wells.

God didn’t just give me the word “well”, but a specific well called Beersheba. In Biblical times, wells were named to commemorate an occurrence there. “Beer” means well, spring, or pit, but “Sheeba” comes from the Hebrew “Shaba”, which encompasses meanings ranging from- feed to the full, take an oath, declare seven times, and "promised to them by oath”. The name goes back to Genesis 21:25. This particular well of Abraham’s had been seized by Abimelek’s servants (Gen 21:25). Abimelek said he did not know of it, so Abraham offered him seven ewe lambs to buy it back. The oath was made, and everyone left peacefully.

Let’s unpack the meaning for us in this first portion of the story. We all have wells, springs, and deep hidden places that give life. Sometimes God supplies us with “wells” of natural resources, but more often, we have generational blessings, prophetic promises over our cities, our nations, our churches, or our own lives. These promises come in the form of the living water of His Word. When He speaks something over us or makes us a promise in His Word, it waters and causes fruit to grow in keeping with that word.

When we hear of Beersheba in Genesis 21, the well was disputed. There was an illegitimate draw on the resources in that well. The same thing happens when we give our giftings, resources, or time to things other than what God has called us to. This wasn’t a hostile attack from an enemy, but a subtle negligence that allowed what was supposed to supply him to get diverted. Abraham’s response is critical. He doesn’t get offended. This would start battles where there were not any. He doesn’t take on a victim mentality. This would cause him to settle into bitterness and give up hope of reclaiming what was easily redeemed. He also doesn’t ignore it and allow the well to be taken over, though it may have been easier and surely would have been cheaper. There was a cost to reclaim what was his, and he was willing to pay it. 

In our own well reclaiming, we need to encounter God and ask him, “What gifts/time/resources/prophetic promises are you wanting me to reclaim?”  “Where do I need to let go of bitterness or a victim mentality?” and “What dream or promise do you have for me that I’ve been ignoring?”

As the account in Genesis continues, years after the death of Abraham, Isaac finds himself the target of the Philistines’ jealousy, and they fill with earth all the old wells of Abraham (Gen 26:15). Isaac goes on a quest to reopen the wells of his Father. When he and his servants moved on to Beer Sheeba, God encountered Isaac in a dream (Gen 26:24): “The night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”  Isaac re-digs the well there, and as if he triggered something cyclical in the Spirit, back comes Abimelek. Abimelek says in Genesis 26:28, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’- between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you”. They feasted, made an oath, and went away in peace. “That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, ‘We’ve found water!’. They named the well Shibah and the town that grew up there is called Beersheba.” (Genesis 26:32-33).

We are in a time in which God is putting on our hearts to re-open wells of our Heavenly Father’s. When Isaac reopened the well at Beersheba, the Lord re-spoke the promise that He had placed over him since Abraham. What promise is God re-speaking over you, your organization, your city, or your nation]? What opportunities is He bringing back around?

Isaac renames the re-dug well the same name as the old well. Sheba (Shibah). By speaking this word over it, he brings about a revival of the same conditions that prompted the name in the first place. Not because he manifested it in some kind of “name it, claim it” process, but because by restoring it to its original name, it was a nod to the testimony of what God had done there. When we declare again what God has done or what He has promised to do, we are declaring His Words - not ours - and His Words have power. We see with Beersheba, the second naming once again fulfills its name meaning because it becomes the place of agreement, oath, redeclaration, and being fully fed. The beautiful extension is that this became more than a well. In the restoration of this well, and entire city with its name sprung up around it. What does God call the “wells” He is reopening through you? Just as wells give the water of life to many in that community, how is what God is speaking and doing in your life, church, city, and nation bringing life to the world? What has He “named” those wells He is restoring for you?

In receiving this word, I researched what happens in the natural with the recovery of old wells. First, to find old wells, look at old maps and blueprints. In the natural, this helps you know how the land was previously used and can uncover useful amenities. In the spirit, this looks like researching or remembering the history of testimonies. This also looks like asking the Lord what His blueprint looks like for that area. 

Also, looking at inconsistencies like dips in the land or pipes that have no apparent purpose can also identify old wells. For us, this looks like asking the Lord to open our eyes to things whose purpose is not yet understood, “left over” things in our lives or giftings that haven’t yet been utilized, or even looking at “low places” and asking “God, what is your vision for this?”

I also found in the natural the steps to revive an old well, and I feel they hold some truth for what God is calling us to. Abraham had to pay seven lambs. Isaac had to put in a lot of recovery work. Both of them had a cost, so to speak, and similarly, we may have to do some work in our own hearts to prepare. The first step is to clean the well. for us, this could look like pruning, inner healing, or removing attachments, all of which allow us to make a clean start. Second, test the water. This looks like bringing all the direction and words you’ve held on to about this area and saying, “Holy Spirit, please test this”.  “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thess 5:20-21). Finally, fix structural issues. Restructuring is a lot of remodeling. It gets messier before it gets better. Be ok with the mess of construction, and let God break down walls and build walls as He needs. When the structure of a building changes, so does its use, so sometimes when God is creating a new use for something, He must also change the structure. The key is to be flexible as He reopens His promises and blessings over you and your community.

Activation: Father, thank you for the wells that You are reopening right now. We ask for eyes to see Your promises and Your blueprints for these places, and we ask for Your power to restore them. Teach us to abide during this process, to be flexible and unoffendable, to let you clean, prune, and simplify our lives. We thank You for the wells that You were opening not just for us but for our communities, and we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.