Digging Wells: Why It Matters

Have you ever wondered how the great men and women of God got to where they are? What their lives are really like when they’re not on a stage or behind a pulpit? How they became so steadfast, so unwavering in their faith? What do they have that we don’t?

The answer is simple, though it took me years to apply it in my own life.

They don’t have anything we don’t.

God is not partial to man.

God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. (Acts 10:34–35)

What they have done, what they’ve learned to do, is dig. They’ve discovered the secret to walking the narrow road of the Christian life and staying faithful to the end. While many of us dig pits, some so deep we get lost in them for a season, they’ve chosen a different path. They’ve learned to dig wells.

I’ve dug pits. Big ones. Sometimes with my eyes wide open, and sometimes blindly, foolishly, led by my own pain or pride, unable to see the outcome of my headstrong choices: I’ve dug my own grave and then fallen into it. (More than once.)

But by the abounding grace that’s leapt over mountains and rivers to find me, and fierce love of Jesus that pushed down walls, stormed the enemy’s camp, and retrieved me from the bottom of a pit, wrenching me out even in my startled confusion, by that alone, I stand today on solid ground, with arms lifted high in worship and a mouth filled with praise. All I can say is thank you.

But I do sometimes wish I hadn’t had to learn the hard way. That Jesus didn’t have to rescue me over and over from the pits I dug for myself. With all that furious digging I was doing, I wish instead I’d learned to dig deep, restorative wells. Not just in the good seasons, but in the sunshine and the rain, in the mundane and in the joy. When life is good and it all makes sense, and when it is hard and nothing does.

Deep wells are the secret to a fruitful, grounded Christian life. And the difference between a pit and a well isn’t just in the digging, but in the purpose: Pits swallow you. Wells sustain you. One buries. The other revives.

And the Christian life was never meant to be lived pit to pit.We were meant to live connected to the source, drawing on the life of God again and again as we journey forward.

Why wells?

In ancient Hebrew culture, wells weren’t optional. They weren’t decorative or symbolic, they were a matter of survival. When God’s people moved through the land, they dug. They didn’t wait for water to rise to the surface. They searched, and they dug, carving a course of fresh water for themselves and their families. They dug because they knew there was life beneath the ground, and without that living water, they couldn’t keep going.

Spiritually, it’s the same. We cannot survive on yesterday’s breakthrough, or someone else’s encounter with God. We need our own well. We need water for today. And to get it, we must dig.

Digging a well takes time. It takes intention. It takes effort. Sometimes it happens in seasons of joy, sometimes in seasons of heartbreak, and sometimes in dry, in-between places. But every well we dig is an act of trust, a declaration that God is who He says He is, and that He will meet us here.

What does it mean to dig?

To dig is to press in when it would be easier to walk away. It’s showing up in the secret place when no one else sees.

Sometimes it looks like turning off the noise and opening your Bible. Sometimes it looks like taking the low road in a moment of conflict, or carving out time for prayer when your body is tired and your mind would rather be distracted by a screen. But even in making these moment to moment choices, it’s not about performance, it’s about posture. It’s about searching for Him. 

What this series is about

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing a series on what it means to dig spiritual wells in Christ, about the disciplines, decisions, and heart postures that make room for the presence of God to dwell in and among us. Because when trials come, and they will come, we need deep wells of life to draw from.Whether you feel stuck in the wilderness, standing on a mountaintop, or wandering somewhere in between, learning how to dig and tap into those wells is what keeps us connected to the Living Water, our Source and Great Reward, Jesus the Messiah.

So let’s pick up our shovels and go back to the secret place.

Let’s dig.