Ebenezer

 June 19, 2024

“Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’ve come." 
~ Robert Robinson

Have you ever played a word-association game where someone says a particular word and then you say the first thing that comes to mind? For example, if I say salt and you might respond with pepper; or if I say beach you might say tropical or Waikiki. What if I said Ebenezer? Many people might say Scrooge — but a few people with a sturdy hymn background might come back with ‘here I raise my…’ quoting from the familiar line in the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (noted above).

It’s a great hymn with a great back story (that we’ll save for a different blog). If this hymn was part of your childhood, you probably sang about your Ebenezer long before you ever understood what an Ebenezer was. If you still don’t know, you’re about to learn! 

Remember that baby of Hannah’s (from our last post)? Samuel? Well, he grew up to be both a prophet and judge over the nation of Israel. During one particular battle with Israel’s nemesis neighbors, the Philistines, Samuel was able to unite the people to seek the Lord’s help and God responded in a mighty way:

But 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 

That was awesome…a reason to rejoice for sure, but Samuel wanted to make sure they didn’t quickly forget about the Lord’s intervention, so:

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.” v.12 

That is the essence of an Ebenezer — marking the Lord’s help in our lives. I actually like the NIV rendering “Thus far the Lord has helped us”.

During retreats, I often encourage the ladies to reflect on what God has done in their lives. Our natural path is one of forgetfulness, so we need to be purposeful in recounting and celebrating God’s work. I think one of the best ways, one of the most natural ways, is to make use of regularly-occurring significant events in our lives as an opportunity to raise an Ebenezer. For example, on your birthday — take time to commemorate the specific work of God in your life in the previous year — raise some Ebenezers. New Year's Day might be another good opportunity, or the beginning or ending of a school year; whatever is significant in your rhythm of life. 

The beauty of raising an Ebenezer is obvious. The more we celebrate God’s help in the past, the more encouraged we will be to ask for His help in the future. God loves to help His kids and He loves for us to ask for His help. If you haven’t raised an Ebenezer recently (or ever) today would be a good time to do just that!

So, I have personally come to a significant moment to raise an Ebenezer — and that is the completion of phase one of my treatment — thus far has the Lord helped me!  Praise the Lord that phase is in the rearview mirror. Now I am encouraged to ask for His help for phase two, which will begin this coming Tuesday and run for twelve weeks. 

My prayer requests are the same: 1) that the chemo would be effective, 2) that I would stay healthy enough to stay on schedule, and 3) that I would embrace a season of rest.

Speaking of rest, Paul and I will be celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary on Sunday with a little get-away with our family. It all just sort of fell into place, so we’re going to take advantage of the blessing and we’ll be back in church the following Wednesday for another episode in Exodus!

My Love,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com