Digging wells AKA The Mark of a Good Leader

I stumbled across an interesting story in the book of Genesis that I do not think I have ever read before. In Genesis 26 we find the story of the rise of Isaac's wealth, verse 12-13  says that "Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.  The man became rich and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy."

Like all people who come into success and wealth Isaac soon finds that the people around him are jealous of the success he has accumulated.  The Egyptians in the land that he was living in stopped up the wells that his father Abraham had dug (their perceived source of his wealth), and because of this the ruler of the land requested that Isaac move away.

When Isaac moved away he dug some new wells and and the people of that land quarreled with him over these wells also, so Isaac once agains decides to move on from this area.

Finally Isaac comes to an area where he digs another well and the Bible says ,"He moved 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." (Vs. 22 Chapter 26).

This is a cool story to me because I think it shows how good of a leader Isaac was.

1) Isaac was a good leader because he understood that people will always be jealous of success and the blessings of God.

2) Isaac also understood that you can't fight culture, it does not matter how much good work your doing in an area, if the people are quarreling with you it's time to move on.

3)  When you find an area, where the blessings of God can be poured out with out resistance a leader will flourish.

  Do you find yourself in a setting where the blessings of God are being "stopped up?"  Do you find that you are fighting with culture and a mindset of jealousy and envy because of the work God is doing through you?  Perhaps we could learn a lesson from Isaac.

Sometimes we try to reopen the well, sometimes it's just time to move on and dig another well  in a setting where the work of God can flourish.