IN THE WINTER OF 1998 Judy and I decided to build a house in a rural location. We purchased four and a half acres. A few months later I left a message with a contractor that I wanted him to drill a well on that property.

Sunday morning he returned my call at 8:00 AM. When he called I was studying the eighth chapter of Isaiah. I told him what I wanted and we talked about a time to meet at my property to drill the well.

As he got ready to hang up, he added. “Oh, by the way, I’ll need to contact a water witch. It will only cost a couple hundred dollars, but it will be money well spent.”

“Why do we need a water witch?”

“We won’t find water without one.”

“I’m a Christian,” I responded. “I would prefer not to use a water witch.”

“They aren’t real witches,” he laughed. “In fact, they are usually called dowsers.”

“Well, they aren’t finding well water with science,” I responded. “There is no physical connection between the water witch and finding water. If his knowledge cannot be explained by science, the only alternative is the spiritual world, and the Bible clearly forbids this. It is called divination.”

Then I told him about passages like the one below, and explained that divination is the acquisition of secret knowledge by supernatural means.

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who…practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

The contractor became exasperated. He was obviously not a Believer. I’m sure he thought I was just a crazy fundamentalist. “I have drilled over 9,000 wells,” he responded, “and I have never drilled without using a dowser to find the water. But, it’s your money. If we don’t use a dowser, we might need to drill multiple holes, and they can cost thousands.” I stood my ground.

We agreed to meet at my property the next day at 8:00 AM. I hung up the phone anxiously. What if I’m wrong? Many of my Christian friends have used water witches. What if it costs me thousands? After fretting about this for a few minutes I decided to return to the prophet Isaiah. My eyes landed on this text.

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word [scripture], it is because they have no dawn.

Isaiah 8:19-20

A supernatural peace from God descended. It pierced to the division of soul and spirit, and I knew everything was going to be OK.

The next morning I met the contractor on our property.

“Well, where do you want to drill,” he asked skeptically?

I had no idea, so I just pointed at the middle of the field and said, “Let’s start there.”

I got in my car and drove to my office. At 10:00 the contractor called. “You’ll never guess what happened,” he said excitedly. We hit 100 gallons per minute at 30 feet. My testing equipment will only test to 100 gallons per minute. You have more water than this. In fact, you have enough water for a subdivision.”

He didn’t exaggerate. We lived in that house for twenty-five years. I watered our lawn three times a week from May through October each summer. We had 12,000 square feet of grass watered by nine irrigation stations. That means we pumped 40 gallons per minute for three hours straight three times per week. We didn’t ran out of water. We didn’t see the slightest dip in water pressure.

None of my neighbors had more than fifteen gallons per minute, and I don’t know of any that found water shallower than one hundred and fifty feet.

What is the lesson? Trust God. Take risks. Obey him even when it means financial risk or other scary clouds on the horizon. God is trustworthy. He will never let you down.