11-14-2014

 Good Morning All,

        1 Samuel 7:12; “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

    Now that Veteran’s Day is past, almost everyone is moving into the holiday mode.  So now you begin to plan or enact the various holiday traditions that you and your family have.  Perhaps you have some special recipes that you need to begin to find all the ingredients or maybe you plan a trip to somewhere special.  Maybe your tradition is a little offbeat.  We used to spend Thanksgiving Day vaccinating calves and then eating a deep fried turkey.  That might not be the most usual tradition but I am fairly certain that there are some even a little more offbeat.  Perhaps you go to a food kitchen and serve Thanksgiving Day dinner or maybe you take a trip with your family and go “Black Friday” shopping.  The thing about these traditions, whether unique or usual, is that we all draw some remembrance from them if times or events that make us remember the fun, funny, touching or heartfelt moments of our life.

    That is what Samuel was doing in our verse.  He put up a stone and called it Ebenezer.  Ebenezer means “stone of help.”  Samuel put this up so that the people of Israel would remember when God came to their aid when they desperately needed help in fighting the Philistines.   It was put up to remind them that God was faithful to them in the past and would continue to be faithful to them in the present and in the future.

    It might be a good idea if we were to put up Ebenezer stones in our lives.  Maybe we should put one by our bed, or on our desk, or in our tractor.  If we stop and think about it carefully, we can probably think of many ways in which God has blessed us where he has “helped” us.  When you think of it or when you experience it, mark it down.  Mark down when you have experienced God’s love and grace in your life.  See how many times you make a mark or place a stone to commemorate the event.

    You can rest assure that the devil and the world will do everything they can to try and get you forget God’s mercy.  They will do what they can to cloud your memory or even to erase the knowledge that God has been faithful to you.  This is so when we face the challenges of life, the clouded memory may fail us and we may fail to remember God’s faithfulness.  So we may need to do what is necessary to remember God’s faithfulness; we may need to put up and Ebenezer stone just like Samuel did.  Because remembering how faithful God has been in the past will aid in our remembering that he is faithful today and will be faithful tomorrow.

Gracious Father, in you we have hope but sometimes our memory gets clouded by events of the day and the devil’s lies.  Send your Spirit that he may remind us of all your mercy, words of comfort and hope for salvation.  Be with those who memory is clouded by the devil and feel no hope.  Send your healing of body and soul that they may know your grace in their life.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret