Friday, July 15, 2022
Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12 NASB
Remembering the Faithfulness of God
Israel had defeated the Philistines with God's help. They had restored their relationship to Him and He was faithful to lead them to victory. They had experienced God's presence and power in their lives once again.They realized that they needed God, really needed Him, not just as a symbol, but the real presence and power He could provide. And they leaned into Him and found victory.
To memorialize what God had done for them, they placed a stone between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer to remember how God had helped them. They wanted to remember what He had done and for everyone who saw it to know the God was not only present, but was faithful to provide when He was called on. This stone was a testimony that God was not dead.
This was not the first time that the Israelites built a memorial with stones to remember God's faithfulness:
The Israelites had crossed the Jordan. God had dried up the water, just like before, so they could cross on dry land instead of wading through the raging river. For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when He dried it up before us until we had crossed over. Joshua 4:23
Now they were not just outside the promised land, but before they did anything else, they built a memorial so that the generations ahead would know what God did for them, and so they could remember. The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes so twelve stones were used to build the memorial. When all the people had passed over Jordan, Joshua commanded one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a rock from the river bed and build a memorial on the Canaan (Promised Land) side. These verses tell us that the purpose of the memorial was to remind future generations of the power and faithfulness of God on behalf of His people. That memorial would be an important landmark to those who would come after.
There was actually a second memorial built with 12 stones in the river bed. This memorial was not for the future generations. This memorial was a monument to the faith of the Israelites. No one could see it but God. Even though the Israelites couldn't see it, they knew the monument was there! They remembered that they had believed God then and it had worked. This was a monument in their hearts.
We need some memorials in our lives as well. We need to always remember that the Lord was faithful in the past and that He will be faithful now as well. Never forget what the Lord has done for you in your yesterdays. It is those yesterday experiences that will tide you over when the trials of today and tomorrow arise in your life!
When you have trusted Him, and He has brought you through, never forget it. Build that monument in your heart, where only God can see it, and where you will never forget it and when the tough time comes again, and they will, look at that monument of His faithfulness and of your faith and know that what worked before will work again. Teach your children about the faithfulness of God and what He has done in your life. Teach them the story of the Israelites and what God did for them - over and over again. Tell of God’s miracles and provisions in other stories of the Bible. Tell of God’s miracles and provisions in your own life and teach them that they can trust Him to meet their needs too. Make room in your heart to build a memorial so that you never forget the faithfulness and provision of God.
He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God. Joshua 4:24
