Redeemer Bible Church

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Here We Raise our Ebenezer

Here We Raise our Ebenezer

Sharing our Stories of God’s Faithfulness

You remember the words, no doubt, to that particular stanza in Robert Robinson’s hymn, Come Thou Fount:

Here I raise my Ebenezer,

hither by thy help has 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.

What was the hymn writer referring to? Robinson’s mental eye was on the particular act of a young prophet named Samuel. Samuel set up a stone and gave it a name, Ebenezer. Sounds odd, at first. Giving a name to a rock? To a child, a pet, or even to a band (The Rolling Stones), yes, of course. But to a rock? Perhaps a pet rock?

Well, our culture today maintains the practice of setting up rock-like-structures at National Military parks. We call them monuments or statues. For example, visit Gettysburg National Military Park and you’ll see thousands of such monuments. Those monuments call up to our minds the courage and sacrifice of the men who either served the Confederate or Union cause. They trigger our memories of past events.

Samuel set up a stone for a similar reason. So, let’s rewind the history tape and remember his story of a stone.

Samuel’s rise to leadership is unfurled gradually in 1 Sam 1-4, and contrasts with the leader whom he replaces: ineffective Eli. Eli and his sons failed to deliver Israel from their military enemies. But Samuel’s leadership, on the other hand, proves to be different. His leadership is a harbinger of the rise of another young man in the book of 1 Samuel, King David, who replaces another ineffective leader, King Saul. 

We see in I Samuel 7 a picture of Samuel’s effectiveness as a leader. [1]He called on Israel to put away their foreign gods and Ashtoreths[2]. In obedience, the nation assembled together, put away their foreign gods,[3] fasted, and confessed their national sins (1Sam 7:5-6).

This news of renewal traveled fast, too fast. The neighboring enemies, the Philistines, heard about the religious gathering, and assumed Israel would be defenseless at a time of national confession. They decided to exploit this opportunity, so, while Samuel was sacrificing a burnt offering on Israel’s behalf, the Philistine army drew near to make their attack on unsuspecting Israel.

But Israel was not defenseless, despite appearances to the contrary. God mercifully intervened with his voice of thunder:

And just as Samuel was offering up the offering, the Philistines drew near to do battle with Israel and the LORD thundered with a great sound[4] on that day upon the Philistines and panicked[5] them, and they were routed before Israel. 1 Samuel 7:10

Hannah’s earlier prophecy[6] of thunder came true:

It is not by strength that one prevails;

Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered.

Against them from heaven He thunders;

The LORD judges the ends of the earth. 1 Samuel 2:9b-10

Due to his leadership role and God’s intervention, the prophet Samuel effectively delivered Israel[7] from annihilation by the Philistine army in contrast to Eli and his sons.[8] And true to his character, rather than drawing attention to himself with a vaulted stage and flashing lights, Samuel honored the LORD for the victory. He raised up a stone and gave it a name: Ebenezer, meaning stone of help.

Then Samuel took a single stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He called its name Ebenezer, and he said, “As far as here has the LORD helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12

The erected stone would act as a trigger in future generations, long after Samuel died, causing God’s people to remember how the LORD had helped them, how He sent down a celestial bombardment (thunder) to defeat Israel’s enemies.

This is the event the hymn writer referred to when he wrote:

Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help has come.

Raising up an Ebenezer, then, is storing up memories of God’s past intervention and bringing them to mind whenever reassurance of God’s love and protection are needed. This is what Robinson the hymn writer was referring to.

Every family should store up memories of God’s faithfulness and bring them to mind when courage, reassurance, or hope is needed. Our own family has benefitted from the practice of the Ebenezer principle in time of suffering, discouragement, and danger.

And the time to practice the Ebenezer principle--remembering God’s past mercies and bringing them to mind--is now, don’t you think?

We need to raise up our own congregational Ebenezer for such a time as this. Our need to be reminded of His love and protection is acute for these days of uncertainty. As a congregation, we need to bring up to our collective minds those experiences in our past when God mercifully intervened and helped us.  

So, we are asking you to share your stories with your church family. And as we all read the church family’s sacred stories, memories of God’s faithfulness, the fainthearted will gain encouragement, the fearful will find new faith, and the weak will be fortified with new strength. What could be better than that? Let’s raise our church family Ebenezer!

How can I share?

We will have to share online at this time.  So here are a few options.

1.   You can reply in the comments section at the end of this blog as it is printed on the RBC church website.

2.   You can reply after the blog as it is printed on the RBC church Facebook page. If your Ebenezer story is important, but not something you feel comfortable putting on a public site, please post your story on the private Redeemer Bible Church Community Group Facebook Page. It is a new Facebook Group just created for private sharing during this time of social distancing and lack of church gatherings. Only regular attenders will see these posts.

3.   We want to hear your story. Let’s encourage one another to have strong faith in our faithful God.

Other suggestions:

1.   Talk together as a family about how God, in His mercy, intervened for you in past years or months. Get everyone involved. Let each individual share their stories.

2.   Write the stories. Down. Put them in a jar, or a special box, or a book, or anyplace that you might be able to come back to and remind yourself about at a time of discouragement.

Here we raise our Ebenezer

Thank you for reading.

www.redeemerbible.org

[1] The leadership Samuel demonstrated in 1 Samuel 7 summarizes the renewal and military success under his leadership in contrast with that of Eli.

[2] Ashtoreths are wooden poles, or trees, which were worshipped as gods. Ashtoreths are echoes of the forbidden tree in the Garden. These trees are another example of “trees of testing” which appear again and again in Israel’s history.

[3] Today those foreign gods are the acquisition of material possessions, materialism, racism, the love of money, traditionalism, nationalism, etc.

[4] Just as God answered Moses with sounds in Exodus 19:18, so also He answered Samuel with “sounds.

[5] The two terms, thunder, indicative of God’s voice, and panic, reoccur in 1 Samuel. God’s voice comes down on the enemy armies, and the enemy is tackled by the linebackers of panic.

[6] Yes, indeed, Hannah is a prophetess, a mouthpiece of God to Israel.

[7] The story of the life of Samuel is prophetic of David’s life. Just as young Samuel replaced Eli and his ineffective sons, so also young David replaced ineffective Saul and his sons. Samuel was effective in defeating Israel’s enemies just as David was effective in defeating Israel’s enemies. 

[8] Just as young David began to deliver Israel from the Philistines in 1 Sam 17ff. by killing Goliath.