09/30/2024
OCTOBERFAST 2024 – DAY THREE
EXPECT OPPOSITION TO YOUR PROGRESS
Scripture for the day: “Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.” – Genesis 26:19-21.
Growing up in the idyllic town of Saltpond in Ghana, where mango trees were in abundance, I never witnessed a time that little boys and adults threw stones or used sticks or other implements to pluck green, unripe mangoes. These stones and implements were directed at the ripe mangoes. A wise man once said, “No one throws stones at a mango tree that has no fruit or its fruit is unripe.” Therefore, a tree without ripening fruits will not experience vicious attacks and assaults by people in the community and passersby. It is the same in life. As long as your life is dull and fruitless, you will be immune to vicious criticisms and opposition. On the other hand, you must expect fierce attacks, and everything thrown at you, including the kitchen sink, by those who are near and far in your circle of influence, when you start make noteworthy progress in your life and honing your God-given gifts and talents.
Our scripture reading for today narrates the story about a stiff opposition to God’s servant, Isaac, when he undertook a highly noble act of re-digging wells that his father, Abraham, had dug in his time. What is wrong with providing an essential commodity such as water that an agrarian community can utilize for themselves, their animals, and crops? However, the real nature of people with unregenerate hearts is revealed by the Lord through the prophet in Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) as, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” The scripture says in Gen. 26:18, “And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham.” It is bad enough to deliberately stop wells that provided water to the entire community, but worse for the wells to be re-dug and the following to happen, “But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.” The meaning of Esek is contention, strife, violence, injury, distress, straits, or simply quarrel; and that of Sitnah is, enmity, hatred, or hostility. These are the stones and implements that are thrown at every tree or people whose fruits begin to ripen in their divine, predestined time.
As you begin to re-dig your own precious wells of destiny and other valuable wells previously dug by predecessors in your families and in the Kingdom of God – wells of spiritual revivals, economic emancipation, educational facilities, neighborhood renewals, family structures, and the like – you must EXPECT great opposition to your progress, especially when you strike water. It has been said that “To be forewarned is to be forearmed,” which means that if you know about a problem or situation in advance, you will be able to appropriately deal with it when it arises. You must expect vicious attacks to come from everywhere, including your innermost circle of influence, when you start making considerable progress in your God-ordained destiny. Not everyone will rejoice with your growth and prosperity. However, such opposition should not deter you from aggressively pursuing your divine purpose in life.
You have been ordained to be blessed and to become a conduit of blessing in your generation, and nothing should stop you from achieving this purpose in the Lord. Your progress will generate attention, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. You are not the first and definitely will not be the last to encounter such opposition to divine progress. The following had their share of challenges and ferocious resistance in their generations in the pursuit of their earthly ministries and interestingly, people were carefully assigned by the enemy against them: the men of Gerar against Isaac; Jannes and Jambres against Moses; Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem against Nehemiah; Alexander the Coppersmith and the Jewry against Apostle Paul; and the Pharisees and Sadducees against Jesus Christ.
Precious Oasis family, it is our season to re-dig personal and corporate wells of destiny and purpose to establish the will of God and expand the frontiers of the Kingdom of God in the world. Dig and continue to dig the wells regardless of the opposition to your progress. The opposition can only go up to Sitnah; they cannot withstand the Spirit of grace and excellence from the Lord in you at the next well that you will dig. In the Season of FaithWorks, do not stop re-digging the many divine wells of glory that the Lord will lay upon your heart. The future belongs to us, not the opposition. When you start seeing the stones and other implements of destruction of the enemy coming your way, remember, your fruit is ripening. Keep the vision in plain sight and continue digging by the grace of the Lord.
© 2024 Pastor Dr. Isaac Paintsil,
Sr. Pastor, Christ’s Oasis Ministries.
