After Abimelech's command, the Bible says that "Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there" (Gen. 26:17). Isaac left Abimelech, but he did not go very far.

The Bible again refers to Isaac's digging wells when it says, "Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them" (v. 18).

Isaac had to redig the wells his father had dug, but even this was used of God because the trouble that came to Isaac kept forcing him to move closer to his home and to the place of the altar. At Gerar, he was only partway home and had pitched his tent where he should not have done so.

Isaac was a weakling in this respect, but probably no weaker than most of us.

Perhaps God has been speaking to you and you wonder why you have troubles. Maybe you have suffered a financial loss and you find it very difficult to understand.

Is God speaking to you in an effort to bring you back to Himself? You need to face these matters squarely and be honest with God as He deals with you.

"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word" (Ps. 119:67).