Through the Bible: 1st SamuelSample

Ebenezer – Thus Far The Lord Has Helped Us

So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah. So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of 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.” 

1 Samuel 7:3-4,6,12 (ESV)

The God of the Bible has no tolerance for idols, as emphasized by the first two commands God gave the Israelites. When the Israelites went away from Yahweh following other gods and idols, they lost the protection of God. Some lost their lives; others got another chance by the grace of God. Ebenezer means 'thus far the Lord has helped us', and it brings in a conditional clause.

God's promises come with the condition that we must abide in Him always. Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love”. We must make a critical choice to follow God wholeheartedly by following His commands to abide in His love. Reading the Bible is essential, but if we read it without our love for God and the decision to live out His words in our life, our faith would be futile.

We see how the ark of Covenant did not save the Israelites from the Philistines but true repentance did. The grace of God is for our repentance and not a license for sin. To enjoy God's grace, we need to do our part of following Him wholeheartedly with no idols in our life.

Prayer:

Father, help us to follow You wholeheartedly, ridding us of all the idols in our life. We thank You that You are Ebenezer in our lives. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.