1 Samuel 7:12
“Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.”
In our text here, what was the significance of the prophet Samuel setting a stone up and calling it Ebenezer??
The stone called Ebenezer was meant to be a memorial for everyone to look at. When they looked at it, its purpose was to cause the people to stop and remember what God had done for them .... Hitherto hath the LORD helped us...
Many times throughout the Bible, physical monuments were erected to serve as remembrance of God's mighty works. While it is rare for us, as believers today, to erect a stone monument of remembrance, it doesn't allay the fact that we too should be careful not to forget the mighty deeds of our God ....
Why is it important to stop and remember what God has done for us? There are several reasons as to why it is essential for us, as believers, to call to remembrance the things God has already done....
Remembering what God has done for us in the past, will strengthen our faith to trust Him in the present and in the future.
If He was faithful then, He will be faithful again. When we are going through the difficult battle, it can be so easy to give into anxiety, fear, or despair. It's our human nature. God knew this! He gave us tools to help us regain our faith in Him. In Joshua, God again instructed Joshua to have the children of Israel to erect stones to serve as a memorial or a reminder, if you will, of His awesome Power! He didn't want them to forget about how He miraculously delivered them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, destroyed Pharaoh and His army, fed them manna/quail from Heaven, preserved them through their 40 years of desert wandering, and finally, how He parted of the Jordan River and gave the land of Canaan into their hand, just as He had promised. God wanted everyone who saw those stones of remembrance to reflect back on Him. They were meant to be a testimony of His marvelous Power.
Joshua 4:3-7 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. 4Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 5And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: 6That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? 7Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
When we surrender it all to God and trust Him in spite of our present circumstances, we can be reminded of His enduring faithfulness. Remembering what God has already done builds our faith and gives us strength to get through the trial. We can have confidence that if He did in the. Last, He can and will do it in the future!
Remembering what God has done for us in the past gives up hope.
In Isaiah 43:1-3, God says, “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour”
Remembering a previous trial you have faced and thinking about how God was with you during that time will help you remember that He is with you now too. God promised that He would be with us. We just have to trust Him in the waiting!!
Remembering what God has done for us in the past gives us another opportunity to praise Him again for what He has already done!!
In Psalms 34:1, the psalmist wrote, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
It’s easy to praise Him when we can see His mighty works present in our lives, but when we are facing difficulty or trouble, Satan loves to blind us to God's goodness and how He has moved for us in the past. He hates it when we praise our Creator. He tried to burden us with cares of this life and it's struggles. He wants to block out God from our view.
When we are in distress or going through a hard spiritual battle, it becomes easier to grumble and complain than to praise God for His goodness.
The enemy knows praise is a weapon God has given us to combat against the trials we are facing. I think that is when a true Christian shines the brightest-- when they are able to praise even when it doesn't seem like they have anything to praise about! Remember old Job? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him... wow! What praise! God, it doesn't matter what I am facing right now, you are still worthy of praise! You are still worthy of glory!
You are still God whether you deliver me right now or not! Remember the Hebrew boys ? They were a great example of this... they were confident in the God that they served. Looking at the scriptures... (Daniel 3:16-19)
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”“But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
They were gonna serve God anyway. They knew He COULD deliver them from the furnace, but they said whether He does, or whether He don't, they were gonna serve Him anyway. The present circumstances they were facing didn't determine if they were going to do right. It was part of who they already were. They had faith in a God that was mighty to save! But they knew if He so chose not to deliver them FROM the furnace, one thing was certain, He WOULD deliver them out of the King's hand.
Sometimes, we, as believers, get "hung up" when our prayers don't get answered in the way we thought they would. We feel like God didn't answer us. But in reality, He did. It just wasn't the way we envisioned it to be. I have experienced this firsthand--- praying for years for my beloved papaw to be healed. He was given 3-6 months to live. We prayed and prayed and God did extended his life by 7 years. 7 years that he wasn't supposed to have! Yet, when he passed on to his eternal reward, our faith was shattered because we were so confident that God was gonna heal him. Looking back on it now, I can see God had a reason. He could see the bigger picture. He knew what was best! He did indeed answer every one of those prayers we prayed. Pappaw is up there running down the streets of glory--fully healed! Just as we had asked!! He has a healthy body with strong lungs that can run without wheezing or smothering. He is happy! He is whole! He is in the presence of His precious Savior whom he served so faithfully! So just because God doesn't answer how we think He should doesn't mean He didn't answer.... or that He isn't worthy of the the glory! It doesn't mean He can't be trusted! We just have to have confidence that God knows what is best for us even if His will looks different than what we wanted.
Another thing about remembering the works of God in the past is that it helps us to keep our hearts and minds focused on Him in the present.
When life is going great, its easy for the focus to become all about ourselves. Selfishness and self reliance has become more and more the normal unfortunately. As believers, it is imperative for us to reflect everything back to God.... we must realize that everything we have comes from God. He is the one who orders our steps. The Bible tells us that Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. Anything that we do or have is all because of Him!
When we shift our focus towards God, and remembering what he has done in our lives, it causes us to become more dependent upon God instead of being more dependent on ourselves. We begin to realize just how desperately we need God's hand to be working in our lives!
That was one of the downfalls of the children of Israel.... (and all of us, if we aren't careful) when they began to forget what God had done for them, they began to seek after other things. When their focus wasn't solely on God, it became easier to go their own way and to stray from the truth....
All throughout the Old Testament, when the children of Israel began to be oppressed and cry out to God for deliverance, He came to their rescue. He sent prophets--His men-- to remind them of what He had already done for them in the past to help them trust Him in the present. We read over and over in the Word of God of when God sent revival to His people, many times, it began by way of remembrance.
Which brings me to the next thing:
Remembering on what has God already done for us can help us avoid the pitfalls of sin.
Huh? What do you mean? It's like this: When you reflect regularly on how good God's been to you, It's becomes harder and harder to willfully sin. If a holy God who has all Power is mindful of me, to help me, to heal me, to deliver me, to save me, to woo me, to restore me-- how can I break His heart by continuing in sin?
What did Joseph say to Potiphar's wife when she tried to seduce him into sin?
“There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
Joseph didn't say how can I do this great wickedness and sin against Potiphar. He said "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Why? Because Joseph recognized he was in the position he was only because God had placed him there. He recognized that, while it would have been a great betrayal to his master, Potiphar, to give in to his wife's demands, much more importantly, it would have been treachery against His God! God had put him there and trusted him to behave himself in a Godly manner. Joseph remembered that God was his focus and acted accordingly!
Having this kind of attitude will definitely change our perspective on sin if we will allow the Lord and His goodness to remain at the forefront.
2 Kings 17:7 tells us : ““For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,”
When the people forgot all the mighty works God had done for them, they began to drift away from God. Their fervor, commitment, and devotion began to wane. They began to desire to become more like the people they were around. They wanted to fit in. God's commandments and His directives became less of a big deal to them. And before too long, as a result of their lack of love, remembrance, devotion, appreciation, they began to turn after other gods.
Today, if we aren't careful, we too, will forget about God (until we're in a crisis and we need Him, that is! ) Oh, we would never say that we have forgotten about God, but too often, we live like it. Just like the Israelites, we, too, will turn after other gods – gods of careers, material possessions, hobbies, money, prestige, fame, etc. When God isn't our first priority, we have indeed forgotten Him! He demands first place in our lives! We must make a conscious effort to keep Him there!
Ever heard the old saying "give him an inch and he'll take a mile?" Likewise, our enemy, the devil is constantly prowling about, looking for a way into our souls. He would love nothing better than to slip his foot in and carve himself out a home in recesses of our minds. So when we lose our focus and began to forget about God, it is as if we are leaving the door wide open, unguarded---essentially, as an unspoken invitation for the devil to come in. He doesn't even have to get us to do wrong.... He would love to simply get us distracted and caught up in our own busyness. Satan knows that if we have God in His rightful place upon the throne of our hearts, it will be bad news for him! That's why it is so important that we stay vigilant. We must be awake and watching to withstand these subtle attacks of the enemy!
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
When we seek to please God by keeping our minds attuned to Him and His goodness, it will set a guard about our minds and hearts. As a result, the world and sin will begin to lose its appeal to us. Seeking God and reflecting upon His mercies will keep us from being shaken or moved by the enemy and his devices! As the Psalmist said in Psalm 16:8, “ I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
We should work hard to develop the habit of remembrance. Remembering what God has done for us will help keep our minds focused on Him. When our minds are "stayed upon Him", it becomes much easier to look at things through spiritual eyes instead of through the carnal eyes of flesh. Keeping our focus upon God will change our perspective and cause us to act in a manner pleasing to "Him who hath called us". Saturating our hearts with reminders of His faithfulness will also invoke feelings of gratitude and thankfulness in our hearts.
God created memory to be a powerful tool! He wanted us to use it to "bless His name"! When God is remembered, adored, reverenced, cherished, and appreciated, it will change how we act, how we think, and how we talk.
God has truly been wonderful to us ! He has enabled us to live a life we could have never lived outside of Him! He has bestowed bountiful blessings upon us! It pays to serve the Lord!
Psalms 103:2 - Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
It is such a blessing, sometimes, when you start reminiscing about all the good, good things God has done for you!! (Sometimes, it becomes quite emotional when you start remembering just how far God has brought you from, what He has done for you, and for the finished work of salvation that He has given us! I could never repay Him for any of it, but it make my heart swell in gratitude for MY SAVIOR, MY REDEEMER, MY DELIVERER, MY KING, MY LORD, MY FRIEND! It makes it personal!)
I know, as humans, time has a tendency of fading our memories. To combat this, I highly recommend writing them down as way of remembrance. Personally, I try to write out my answered prayers, healings, miracles, scriptures quietly spoke to me in prayer , sermons that touched my hearts, etc.
I have found these notes years later, picked them up and begun to read them. More often than not, there were little things that I had experienced , prayers that were answered, things the Lord had brought out to me, etc., that I would have never recalled (or at least not accurately!) had it not been for a written account of it.
If you don't already do this, I encourage you to start a notebook or a journal to write down the goodness of God! You will be surprised at how fast those pages fill up. Each and every day, there are many things that we will discover, if we will be willing to look for them. ( if you still struggle with finding the goodness of aGod in your everyday life, I encourage you to pray for God will give you the ability to recognize the "works of His hand". ) He is involved in our lives on a personal and daily levels.
As a added bonus:
If you ever go through a dry spell in prayer and you can't think of anything to praise God for, pull out your list. God loves the Praise of His people! In fact, the Bible tells us that He inhabits the praise of His people-- inhabits: to dwell there! I sure would love for God Almighty to dwell with me!!
When the praise goes up, His Glory comes down
So in closing, how long as it been since you looked back upon your "Ebenezer"? Or has anyone else ever asked you, "what meaning these stones in your life?"
May I encourage you today to take a few moments to reminisce back upon your life and "remember the Lord"? As we pointed out, remembrance is powerful! It will make you realize just how awesome God is and how unworthy we truly are!
Let's take some time to reflect upon what God has done and praise Him for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men. 🙌🏼
Give Him the Glory! Give Him the praise!
From my heart to yours,
-Tiphanie 💕
If you have an extra moment, scroll down and read through the lyrics of the song below.... or click the link to hear it sang by Cece Winans
(disclaimer: I don't endorse any specific artist, I simply base my music upon the principles of music found in the word of God. This song fits into the spiritual song category. It is uplifting and singing praise to God Himself.... )
(for more in-depth on music guidelines according to the Bible, check out this post: https://tiphaniesizemore.wixsite.com/mysite/post/music-so-what-s-the-big-deal-about-music-part-2-biblical-guidelines-for-god-honoring-music )
Goodness of God
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never fails me
All my days, I've been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
In the darkest night
You are close like no other
I've known You as a Father
I've known You as a Friend
And I have lived in the goodness of God (yeah)
And all my life You have been faithful (oh)
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God (yeah)
'Cause Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
With my life laid down
I'm surrendered now
I give You everything
'Cause Your goodness is running after
It's running after me (oh-oh)
'Cause Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
With my life laid down
I'm surrendered now
I give You everything
'Cause Your goodness is running after
It keeps running after me
And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God
(I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna sing)
'Cause all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God
Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God