Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7:12)

1 Samuel 7:12

 

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

 

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I’m come

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.”

 

            Have you ever sung the above verse of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and caught yourself thinking more of Ebenezer Scrooge than of the word of God?  This is a gorgeous line of poetry, but it only has weight in our lives if we remember what the hymn writer is saying.

 

            In 1 Samuel 7:12, Samuel has just seen God bring great deliverance to his people.  After a particular victory over their Philistine foes, Samuel sets up a stone in memory of the fact that God has faithfully protected his people.  The point of the stone was to remind the people, every time they saw it, that God has always been faithful in the past and surely will continue to be faithful in the future.

 

            What about you?  Do you have an Ebenezer?  Can you look back to a point in your life where you have seen God be faithful to you?  Have you marked down that place and said, “I know God has been faithful to me here, and I will trust him with my future?”  If so, great.  If not, think back over your life.  Think of a time when God has taken care of you.  Mark it down.  Remember it.  Then, when you find yourself tempted to despair, look back at your marker stone, your Ebenezer, and sing out those glorious lines:  “Hither by Thy help I’m come, and I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.”