“Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I’m come.”

Anybody remember that line from the original version of the old hymn, “Come, Thou Fount”?

That line has been changed in more recent hymnals, mostly because modern readers have no idea what an Ebenezer is. The term comes from I Samuel 7, after God had miraculously delivered the Israelites from the Philistines. “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us,’” (I Samuel 7:12, NIV).

“Ebenezer” means “stone of help”.

It was, in essence, a monument that Samuel the prophet set up so that the Israelites would remember what God did for them.

When you think about it, it was a great teaching tool. When the Israelites would be traveling and would come to the areay between Mizpah and Shen, they would see that stone and they would be reminded that God had come to their aid there.

I can see a father walking down the road and seeing that oddly-placed stone. One of the children—maybe named Elijah—pipes up, “Daddy, why is that stone there?”

“God did an amazing thing right here, Son. The Philistines were about to attack us, just as Samuel was offering a burnt offering. But God sent thunder that was so loud, it freaked the Philistines out and we were able to defeat them.”

“But why is the stone there?”

“The stone is to remind us that it was through God’s help that we have gotten to where we are.”

Do you have any stones of remembrance?

Okay, I know you don’t go around laying down a concrete marker when something important happens, but do you take note of the key points in your life where you can clearly say, “God was there.”?

Sometimes we call them turning points; sometimes milestones; sometimes defining moments.

Whatever you call them, they are the times when something has happened that dramatically affected your life and changed its direction.

I have had quite a few defining moments, but probably the most significant was the birth of my daughter, Michelle Lynn on June 1^st, 1987. She only lived one week, but her short life redirected my own. It is because of Michelle that I became a writer. I have told that story in another place (http://jamespence.com/?page_id=114) so I won’t repeat it here.

I regularly look back over my life and take note of the “big” moments, the moments when God stepped in and, through both bad and good circumstances, molded and shaped me into the man I am right now.

These moments are my “Ebenezers”.

They remind me that by God’s help I am where I am.

What are your “Ebenezers”?

--James H. (Jim) Pence