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The Lord Has Helped Us

I Samuel 7:12 "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'."

The activity in this verse took place after a couple of significant events in the life of Israel. First, the Ark of the Covenant had been captured for a time by the Philistines and it had been returned to them. Then, about 20 years later, the Philistines were gathering to attack the Israelites. I love that in verse 10 it says that the Lord thundered loudly before the Philistines and scared them so badly that the Israelites defeated them without incident. God helped them.

Has something been taken from you? Doesn't have to be a material possession. Maybe its your self confidence, maybe its a relationship that needs to be restored, maybe you have lost something materially. God will help you. Do you feel that the enemy is attacking? Are you so scared of something that you can't move? God will help you.

God has already helped us. During the Passover season, Jewish celebrants have a special word. "Dayenu" - Hebrew for 'it would have been enough'. As they recount each time God delivered the nation from a plague or from Egypt, they say 'Dayenu' - it would have been enough. Even if God had delivered them from only one plague or one attack and never did another thing for them, it was enough. Do you know what God has done for you?

This is one of those scriptures that makes me sad that we don't sing a lot of traditional hymns anymore. Below are the words to the second verse of  "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing":

'Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by thy help I've 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.' (Robert Robertson)

The songwriter says, "I am where I am because God helped me and if God helps me some more I'll get home. I was lost out there in sin, but Jesus rescued me from the danger of hell by shedding his precious blood." Yes, God has helped us - and if He never did another thing but make the way of our salvation - it is enough.

The Ebenezer was a stone of remembrance. May we never for get what Christ has done for us.

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for helping us - out of our sin and out of eternity in hell. Thank you that if you never did another thing for us it would be enough, but you want to do so much more. Help us to never forget all that you have given to us."

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