Here I Raise My Ebenezer

            The Philistines were coming for them. Death seemed imminent.

            The Israelites shook in fear as they saw them approach, so they cried out in desperation to Samuel.

            Samuel cried out to God and sacrificed a burnt offering to Him
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            When the Philistines thought they were going to win, God intervened and saved Israel.  He had heard their cry!

            “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:7-12, NIV).

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“Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by Thy help I’ve come. . .”

            I’ve sung those words to the song “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” countless times in my life, but never realized what an Ebenezer was until last year. An Ebenezer is a symbol that reminds you of what God has done in your life, so you will never forgets and so that in times of darkness, you can remember that He is always there and working. 

            Samuel knew that he and all of Israel needed to remember what God had done for them in Mizpah, so he made a stone of remembrance to remind everyone of God’s love and power.

            This stone was his Ebenezer, and for generations to come, people could tell their children of the deliverance God had brought them that day.

            Just as Samuel made an Ebenezer to remember what the Lord had done in his life, so should we. Maybe you’re like me and think that you will never forget something God has done for you, but something I’ve realized is that I do forget.

            Some days when I forget what the Lord has done, the sun isn’t shining and the birds aren’t singing. Life isn’t perfect, and I wonder where God is. All I see are the trials I’m going through—and that’s precisely why we need Ebenezers, to remember.

            Maybe you want to write out a few words of what God has done for you on a rock like my church does and put them in a bucket in your house. Or maybe, you want to write out your ebenezers in a journal or on little slips of paper tucked away in a keepsake box. Either way you want to remember the goodness of God, just do it.

            I don’t know if you’re going through a trial or hard season in your life, but if you are, take time to write down what and where God has brought you from in the past. Just like Samuel, you will then be able to look back and see what the Lord has done and that He is good. You’ll find that God has never left you and will always come through.

            Never forget what God has done for you. He is a good God, and after you start writing out your Ebenezers, you’ll never forget it.

            What has God done for you today? I promise, He's done something. 

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas