Do You Have an Ebenezer?

God led me to read about the early days of Samuel's ministry in I Samuel (of course). It was a time of transition, from the Judges to the more organized system of Kings. The final nail in the Judges coffin was when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. Granted to 21st century man it would seem like a game of 'Capture the Flag', but to Israel it was as though God had been captured and taken from Israel. In fact Eli didn't keel over and break his neck when he learned his sons Hophni and Phineas had been killed. No, he fell over when he heard the Ark had been captured.
Phineas' wife gave birth when she heard the news, and named her boy Ichabod; for she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."

We know that God can't be kept in a box covered with gold. God is much greater than even our wildest imaginings. However, we need reminders of God's Power and Glory in our lives. That is why, when the Ark was miraculously returned by God's single-handed dealing with the Philistines, Samuel erected a large stone, probably a pillar, and called it "Ebenezer" - the Stone of Help. The stone was a symbol for God's miraculous help. For Samuel had assembled the Israelites for a time of confession and forsaking false gods. It was a time of returning to God as their God, just as the Ark had been returned. Even while they were offering a sacrifice and crying out before God, the Philistine army advanced upon their assembly. "But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel."
And so an Ebenezer Stone was placed in honor of the occasion.
Do you have an Ebenezer in your home? Do you have an Ebenezer at your place of work?

Is there something you have that when someone asks 'what is it', you can point back to something miraculous or amazing that God did for you?

It may seem overdone, but certainly we should have a cross in our homes. For the cross is a Christian's sign of miraculous help. For on the cross Jesus Christ worked the most powerful miracle this world has ever witnessed.

I believe we should also have a personal 'Ebenezer'. For me it is the letter 'P' from my 1971 Plymouth Duster. It is all I have left from a head on collision with a Semi-Truck and Trailer rig on January 19, 1972. I should have died in the wreck, for my car was demolished in the front and in the back as well when another car rammed into the rear. I can still hear the highway patrolman shaking his head and saying, "Son, I don't know how you can be alive!" I know, God spared me so that I could live for Him! This 'P' is my personal 'Ebenezer' of God's miraculous help.

Do you think it is 'corny' to have objects that remind us of what God has done? Next time you gaze at an American Flag and recite the "Pledge of Allegiance", remember our young men and women who have given their lives so that we can continue to gaze upon that Flag. Next time you sing the "Star Spangled Banner" try to feel the emotions of those soldiers as they saw that the Flag was still waving after a horrible night of warfare. In a very moving movie, "The Last Castle", Robert Redford as General Irwin, gives his life trying to raise that Glorious Flag for the benefit of fellow prisoners in a seemingly God-forsaken military prison.

What symbol did we hurriedly erect after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11? It was the American Flag, followed by a Cross formed from the twisted 'I'-Beams! We need our "Ebenezer's" as a reminder of God's help when we needed it most. So ask yourself again:

"Do I have an Ebenezer in my home?"