Eyes Up: 5 Days of Learning to Trust God’s Heart by Tracing His Hand Sýnishorn

In the book of 1 Samuel, we read about Samuel, one of Israel’s trustworthy prophets and judges. One day he will appoint two of Israel’s first kings. In Chapter 7, God leads the Israelites to a victory over the Philistines. After the battle, we see Samuel give the Israelites something beautiful. He provides them—and us—with an invitation to remember what happened in that place. He gives them a stone.

Through an Ebenezer stone, God gives them a way to remember him—to remember that at this very place, when all seemed lost, he helped them.

Ebenezer means “stone of help.” And by erecting it in front of the people, Samuel invites his people to the simple yet powerful choice of remembering. From then on, every time an Israelite saw the stone set up by Samuel, he would have a tangible reminder of the Lord’s power and protection. Said another way, when the people looked upon the stone, they’d remember the God who remembered them.

This Ebenezer stone would mark the place God was working, even when it seemed like all hope was lost. Even when rampant idolatry was in their past and an army charging them was their future. Even there. This “stone of help” marked the spot where the enemy had been routed, and also where God’s promise to bless His repentant people had been honored.

Our friend, Samuel, offers us a suggestion. Mark the places God has worked in your life. Choose to remember them as the places where God met you, where he was present, even when you once thought he wasn’t. Make a memorial to the goodness and activity of God, an Ebenezer stone. Chart your story with them, stone by stone, so you can lift your eyes to the work of God in your life in the moments you feel clouded.

Our lives are tiny stones, some half-cracked, some whole, building up a beautiful story of what only God could do. Our stories are full of landmarks, full of moments where God was working, where he showed up in big and small ways.

God remembers us. His hand is working. Even in the parts of our story we think are darkest, and even when we couldn’t trace it till now. There’s a Bible full of truth and an empty tomb that tells us this. That even in the lowest valleys, he wasn’t holding out on His faithfulness. He wasn’t withholding hope.

Along the way, God has given us glimmers of Himself, signposts that shine an unusually inviting light in what seems overwhelmingly dark and hopeless.

What’s your greatest stone of all? That Ebenezer moment in your story when you really met Jesus and trusted Him for who He truly is.

We’ll look at this stone, friend, during this devotional. Let’s learn all we can about it and then lift our eyes to it together.