And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Genesis 26:18 KJV
Isaac is Abraham’s famous son of promise. We would expect page upon page to be written about him in the book of Genesis, but his story is basically limited to this one chapter where he is portrayed as a digger of wells. That has always impressed me as a rather humble record for such a significant figure of Biblical history. When Isaac re-dug those wells stopped up by the Philistines, the enemies of God, he was claiming his heritage of faith. He was saying those wells which represented his father’s faith represented his faith also. He was claiming them for himself. How important that is! You and I cannot live by someone else’s faith; eventually we must make it our own as Isaac.
Lord, I am grateful for family members who knew You, loved You, and sought to pass on their faith in You to me. I have learned it is not enough to just accept what they did and said. It has been far more rewarding to take what they did and claim it for myself so that You are not just their God but my God as well.
