Bible ReadingGenesis 26:1–331. Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar.
[08:02]2. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.
3. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.
[09:33]4. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
5. because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
6. So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
[10:52]8. When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9. So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10. Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11. So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
[16:43]12. Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.
13. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.
14. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
15. So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
[27:35]16. Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
17. So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled.
18. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19. Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.
20. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him.
21. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.
22. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
[35:12]23. From there he went up to Beersheba.
24. That 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.”
25. Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
26. Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.
27. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”
[39:13]28. They answered, “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.
29. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”
30. Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
31. Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
[45:43]32. That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!”
33. He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
[55:16]John 4:1–261. Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—
2. although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
3. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4. Now he had to go through Samaria.
5. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
[41:21]7. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
8. (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9. The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
[41:49]11. “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12. Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13. Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14. but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
[42:14]15. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16. He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17. “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
18. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19. “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
20. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21. Jesus said, “Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
[42:36]25. The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26. Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
[43:43]John 13:34–3534. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
[52:32]Observation questions- What had God already promised Isaac before Isaac became afraid of the people in Gerar? How does Isaac’s statement about Rebekah show a different story was now controlling him? [25:23]
- What did Abimelek actually do when he found out that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, and how was that different from what Isaac had feared? [16:43]
- In Genesis 26, what happened to the wells Abraham’s servants had dug, and what did the Philistines lose by filling them with dirt? [29:26]
- What different responses did Isaac show at Esek, Sitnah, and later when Abimelek came to make peace? [35:48]
Interpretation questions- Fear is normal and human, but it should not be allowed to determine a person’s response. What are some ways fear can cause a person to hide the truth, assume the worst, or forget God’s promises? [25:23]
- Isaac walked away from fighting over two wells, yet he later honestly told Abimelek, “You were hostile to me and sent me away.” What is the difference between avoiding a necessary conversation and refusing to turn every issue into a battle? [38:27]
- Jesus did not deny the divisions between Jews and Samaritans or the question of where people should worship. Why did He turn the conversation toward living water and true worship instead of simply winning the argument? [42:47]
- Abimelek said, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you,” after watching Isaac’s life under pressure. Why can a peaceful and gracious response to conflict become a strong testimony to people outside the church? [50:18]
Application questions- Is there a fear presently writing a story in your mind—fear of rejection, being hurt again, losing something, or what someone might say? What has God said that needs to become louder than that fear? [58:29]
- Think of a “well” in your life: marriage, family, friendship, trust, fellowship, or church unity. What kind of dirt is most likely to be thrown into that well—sarcasm, harsh words, old wounds, comparison, gossip, pride, or silence? What would it look like to protect that well this week? [34:31]
- Is there a disagreement where you are more focused on proving that you are right than on preserving what is precious? What might be lost if that argument continues to grow? [45:31]
- Is there a necessary conversation you have been avoiding? How could you speak truth clearly and kindly without reopening every old wound or turning the conversation into a fight? [40:28]
- Is there someone with whom peace may be possible, even if the hurt should not be ignored? What could a first small step toward reconciliation look like—a message, an apology, listening, forgiveness, or an honest conversation? [47:20]
- Children, family members, friends, colleagues, and newer believers may be watching how Christians handle conflict. If they watched your recent responses, what would they see: bitterness and accusation, or grace, humility, truth, and peace? [51:24]
- Esek and Sitnah do not have to be a permanent address. Where do you need hope to keep digging—for a relationship, family member, friendship, or church community—and what would trusting God for “water ahead” look like? [55:31]
