Our Ebenezer

1 Samuel 6-7; Psalms 72; 2 Corinthians 9 

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us.’”

1 Samuel 7:12

Although Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah, he chose the place of God’s deliverance of Israel from the Philistines as the place of remembrance. Samuel chose a stone, not cut out by human hands, as the symbol of remembrance. He chose the name Ebenezer, which means ‘stone of help’ as the identifier of the remembrance. “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” In other words, the battle is the Lord’s, and the battlefield would always be remembered as the place a humbled and repentant Israel experienced God’s sovereign intervention against an enemy that was too strong for them. There would be more battles in the future; but acknowledging the Lord’s gracious intervention gives him glory and serves as a reminder to future generations of what God did and who God is. He is our Ebenezer.

“Lord God, you are my deliverer; my faith is in you, for your glory.”