Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
It’s raining today. And it’s been raining for several weeks (it seems to me.) Our Communications Director, Rachel Moraw, occasionally assigns the church staff to write a devotion. And it’s my turn. And its gray outside, and sopping wet, and . . . well, you get the idea. I confessed to Pastor Chris that I didn’t have a holy thought in my head (or heart) today to share with you. He mentioned the rain and said that some of you may share my feelings of gloom.
And the words of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” came to my mind. The lyrics were written by Robert Robinson in 1758 based on 1 Samuel 7:12. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.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.O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
So, if it’s been a while since you spent any time in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel – let me give you the “Karen Abridged Version” of what happened. (And I truly wish I could tell you this story using an old-fashioned felt board – remember those from children’s Sunday School rooms? Use your imagination to get the full affect!)
When Samuel was a young prophet, Israel received back the ark of the covenant from the Philistines after having lost it in war. It was so upsetting to lose the ark that when the news came to Israel’s judge Eli, he fell backwards from his chair, broke his neck, and died (1 Samuel 4:18). Sadly, even with the loss of the ark, the nation wasn’t ready to come before God and repent. It took twenty years for the people to humble their hearts and let Samuel lead them in restoring their relationship with God.
So Samuel gathered up the people at the town of Mizpah. The people fasted and confessed (“We have sinned against the Lord,” 1 Samuel 7:6) and Samuel prayed for them. But when the Philistines heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they showed up to march on their enemies – and when Israel heard they were coming, they panicked! The people were so afraid that they begged Samuel to continue to pray for them. (“Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines” 1 Samuel 7:8).
Samuel sacrificed a lamb to God on behalf of the Israelites, and as he did, the Philistines began to attack! But God heard Samuel and the cries of his people, and came to the rescue. (“The Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them” 1 Samuel 7:10-11).
God heard the cries of his people through Samuel, and came to their rescue.
And then, to mark the occasion of God’s mighty intervention on behalf of the Israelites,
“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.” So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” (1 Samuel 7:12-13)
In Hebrew, Ebenezer means “stone of help” (eben = stone; ezer = help).
Samuel wanted the people to remember, not just for a few days, but for years, for decades, for generations, how God had come to the rescue of his people when they humbled themselves before him.
They were vulnerable, their enemies were approaching, they didn’t deserve God’s rescue because they had been unfaithful over and over again. But because of his covenant with his people, God intervened with thunder to throw Israel’s enemies into confusion and turn their enemies into the vulnerable nation.
Now, here’s the deal – this isn’t the end of Israel’s story. They still messed up. There were dangers ahead. Samuel raising the “stone of help” wasn’t a declaration that the final victory had been won, but a reminder that up to that point God had helped them.
And so it is with us. Our stories aren’t over, and we are probably not yet out of the woods. And we know our hearts are helpless part from God’s grace. We are prone to wander.
But we remember. We know who God has shown himself to be. He is the fountain of every blessing. He is the one whose streams of mercy never cease and will be new again tomorrow. And he has been faithful in not only countless small kindnesses and rescues, but sending his Son for us.
Jesus spilled his own blood to rescue us when we were wandering. He will save us from the dangers to come. He has raised the stone of help, and our hope to arrive safely home, as sure as God is God.
So on this rainy gloomy day – remember. Remember God’s faithfulness in your life. And know that as God has been faithful in the past, he is faithful today, and he will be faithful in the future.
Written By: Karen Gossett