February 1927
78
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
The Well Diggers S ermon P reached by R ev . W. E. E dmonds
We are busy, too, digging wells. But alas! these are too often wells of selfishness and greed, wells of worldly pleasure and wells of lust. We haven’t time in these days to build altars! Isaac digged two wells also; the first of these he named “Esek,” which means “strife,” and the other he called “Sitnah,” which means “hatred.” Too many of the wells we dig today might well bear such names. S ome S piritual W ells There was one well our fathers dug, that well, THE HOME. They went deep and found wafer fresh and plentiful, never-failing. But the well had to be guarded. Today, as never before, the enemy is seeking to; fill in this well, to poison the well of the home. It is time to call for well-diggers, time to dig again the wells of our fathers. The poison of indecent pictures, of corrupt literature, the dance, broken domestic vows, have filled them. Today the automobile has become the agent of licentiousness; “love- nests,” violence and lust, under the very eaves.of sup posedly Christian homes, give the enemies of the Cross abundant cause to blaspheme. In the name of Christ I call for well-diggers to clean out this great well that our fathers left to us. God save the American home. Our fathers digged better than they knew when they dug the Church-well. I t is a place of refreshing from the presence ,of the Lord. It is a place of vision and of revelation. “Heaven comes down our souls to greet, And glory crowns the Mercy Seat.” But the old time Church-well is well-nigh gone. Look at its prayer-meeting; the old class meeting with its fer vent “Amen.” Enemies have been filling it up with a message of self-salvation and of social service as an objec tive. The enemy of souls has been throwing in rocks of unbelief, denying the inspiration of the Scriptures, the Virgin Birth, the literal, bodily resurrection of Our Lord. That man is a gentleman who would poison the supply of drinking water, compared with one who has taken his solemn vow as a minister, and who sneers at Calvary in our schools and colleges, pours the poison of unbelief into the wells of education. T he C ross our W ell -S weep In the old days, the well-sweep was made with one long piece of wood and one short piece nailed across it. Thus a cross was made that so operated that as the long piece swung the well-bucket down into the depths, the other piece swung over and drew the water to the top. Just so, by the Cross of Calvary the Water of Life is brought freely to all. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the water of life freely.” Our fathers certainly digged a fine well, that of “Lord’s Day Observance.” Men call them Blue Laws, but I call them Red Laws, for that’s Redemption color. The first day of the week is His resurrection crown and is a part of our redemptive heritage. They’ve been filling in the well until about all that is left is a holiday (not a holy day). Then some have been trying to fill in the Christian’s Sabbath well with a “Saturday stone.” It
Psa. 84:6—“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well.” Gen. 26:18—“And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father.” ^ HE valley of Baca stands for an experience in life. The expression of the text is an Eastern figure of speech, designed to point out the possibility of peace in the midst of trouble, of comfort in distress, of satisfaction in desert places, of rest in the midst of tumult, and of thanksgiving in unlikely places. It suggests: the life that has been refreshed, purified and invigorated by the Spirit of God—the victorious life. The inspired poet of Israel had found this' well of heart satisfaction. This is also true of the prophet Habak- kuk, who sings this song of faith: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine; the labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stall; YET I will rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my salvation. The prophet did not FIND any well in this valley, but he MADE one. The two apostles found such a. well, the waters of which so sustained them that, with backs bare and bleed ing, and feet fast in the stocks, at midnight they could pray and sing praises to God. The Master Himself drank of its waters in the Garden of Sorrow, for angels brought it to Him. Time would fail to tell of all the saints, pro phets and martyrs who found the well in their desert experiences. W e M ust be W ell -D iggers The well is of our own digging. We must carry with us the spiritual faculty for opening wells in the desert of life. It is a heart faculty. “Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways of them; who, passing through the valley of Baca, maketh it a well.” There are some famous wells mentioned in the Old Testament. Those digged by Abraham were of special importance. “Because God is our salvation, therefore with joy will we draw water from the wells of salvation.” In the life of Christ Jacob’s well became a place of rest, and typifies that heart rest found in Christ alone. When Abraham digged his wells, he gave to two of them special names. The first, “Lahairoi,” (“The Well of Him that liveth and seeth me.” ) This word of the true and living God needs to be burned into the very soul of each one of us— “Thou God seest me.” Our great personal and national sin is the elimination of the thought of God’s all-seeing eye from our daily life and practice. The second well that Abraham digged was “Beer- sheba,” ( “The Well of the Oath, or Witness of the Cov enant.” ) Our God is a covenant-keeping God. After Abraham’s death, these wells were filled in by his enemies. It is interesting to note that Isaac digged again the wells that had been dug by his father, and called them by the same names that his father had given to them. After that, he found it necessary to guard the wells lest they be filled in by the enemy with rocks and rubbish.. The water in the wells was even sometimes poisoned so that con stant vigilance was necessary. Wherever Abraham went, he did two things— he built an altar and digged a well'.
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