He had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. (Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.) And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; you have become too powerful for us."

So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herders of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herders saying, "The water is ours." So he called the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also; so he called it Sitnah. He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."

Genesis 26:14-22

Have you encountered people like this? No matter what you do, you won't make friends with them. Have you lived in a neighborhood where one your children's balls have gone into the neighbor's yard and the neighbor threw the ball away, just to be difficult? It is difficult to love such people, but Jesus went so far as to say that we must love them, pray for them, and be good to them. We must still do all we can to live peacefully with everyone.

Try to live at peace with others,

even though they want to fight with you.

Our Daily Bread - May 1, 2004