Here I Raise Mine Eben-ezer

Light Station at Pigeon Point near San Francisco, California

photo credit: Tyler Westcott

Then Samuel took a stone
and set it up between Mizpah and Shen,
and called its name Ebenezer, saying,
“Thus far the LORD has helped us."

- 1 Samuel 7:12

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast,
and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus...

- Hebrews 6:19-20a

Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

- Hosea 2:14-15

God is our refuge and help
A very present help in trouble.

-Psalm 46:1



The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.

- Proverbs 18:10



And if you make Me an altar of stone,
you shall not build it of hewn stone;
for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.

- Exodus 20:25

Ebenezer literally means "stone of help."

At a difficult time in their history, the Israelites experienced what it means to be delivered from their enemies. Samuel raised a stone and called it Ebenezer as a reminder to all of them that so far, God had not failed them yet,

The standing stone was a kind of altar, a marker that Samuel dedicated to celebrate their victory over the Philistines, and their recovery of the Ark of the Covenant. This place near Mizpah is the scene of their defeat in two battles where the Ark, as a result, was taken from them.



I can certainly relate to this important event in Israel's history as a people.

Ever since the Fall of man, life on this earth has not been easy.

When Adam and Eve chose to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, death entered this world.

As we know, their choice carried with it terrible consequences:

in toil they shall eat of the ground all the days of their life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for them...in the sweat of their face they shall eat bread...till they return to the ground.

Paradise was lost...they had to leave the Garden of Eden.

Why?

Because Eden is a timeless, eternal place. A garden of unlimited possibilities. The place where the Tree of Life was in its midst, where God planned for them to live, connected to His heart, and all His beautiful purposes for them...forever.

But they chose the temporal instead.

The temporal and the eternal can never co-exist!

Having thus chosen, to live life on their own, apart from their Creator, Adam and his wife Eve had to learn to face the painful consequences of their choice.

Until they return to the ground.

It simply means, until they die.


The greatest comfort I have ever received is in knowing that this earth is not my permanent address, and that death is not my final destiny.

Indeed, I am grateful that God in His mercy provided for a solution, sending a Savior to redeem mankind from the clutches of death.

Praise God indeed! To anyone who chooses to believe the claims of the Cross and follow Jesus Christ, death is no longer the end, but merely a door through which one passes from this life to the next.

But until that time comes, death remains a daily reality for us, as you and I are required to go through a kind of dying with every passing day.

No one is exempt. We have all experienced pain and disappointment, turmoil, frustration, financial and health issues, loss... in varying degrees.

I have to be honest, there are days when I feel that the battle has been too long, and I am getting weary.

This is where hope enters the picture.

Hope is the ray of light that shines for me when I feel like giving up.


I want to share what God has been speaking to me about hope.

My picture of hope is an anchor that keeps the ship steady when the waves are huge and the winds are strong.

God put it so beautifully when He says that "Hope is an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which enters the Holy of Holies where Jesus as the forerunner has entered ahead of us..."

The Holy of Holies refers to heaven where life will have all the beautiful qualities that God has intended for us.

My hope is this:in the midst of my wilderness, my Valley of Trouble becomes a Door of Hope...there all I have lost will be restored, and I will learn to sing again!


At the end of this valley of the shadow of death , Heaven's comfort waits for you and me.


And so at significant stops in our journey we need to raise our Ebenezers, our stone of help, reminders to us of restoration, fresh beginnings... even a renewed sense of direction when we have lost our way.


I have always loved the symbolism of stone. It stands for what is eternal and permanent.

In Joshua 5, we read that God instructed Joshua to make flint knives and to circumcise all the Israelite men at a place called Gilgal.

Circumcision is a physical act to represent something that happens at a deeper level, a turning of their hearts back to God's covenant relationship with His people.

To perform the procedure, a flint knife, one made of stone, was specified.

Gilgal was the place where the twelve stones of remembrance from the Jordan River were set up, as a lasting memorial to what God had done for them.

And Gilgal was also the place where God rolled away the reproach from His people, after they were circumcised. Until that time, the Israelites bore the reproach of slavery.

But after they were circumcised, the Lord said to Joshua,

"Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."
So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

- Joshua 5:9

When eternity touches our hearts, we are forever changed.

Hope is the light in the darkness and weariness of this life that enables me to look forward to heaven, which Joni Tada said is "our heart's true home."

I raise my Ebenezer, my stone of help, a reminder that "thus far, the Lord has helped me."

My Ebenezer is my private altar, where I ask God to teach me what it means to daily offer my life as pure worship, a pleasing sacrifice.

The Lord has been real, He has not abandoned me. He is the One who guides my ship safely until it reaches heaven's shores, my eternal haven of rest!



Below is a video of one of my favorite hymns. It is a most touching rendition of this beautiful hymn written by Robert Robinson in the 1800's but the message of hope remains as strong and as powerful as ever.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

by Robert Robinson, 1735-1790

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above,
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine 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.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be;
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in the blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy wondrous grace!
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send Thine angels soon to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
arranged and conducted by Mack Wilberg and performed by the BYU Combined Choirs and Orchestra (world premiere recording of Dr. Wilberg's arrangement)

From the DVD A Thanksgiving of American Folk Hymns