Ebenezer

Rocks from a weekend in an Oklahoma cabin

An Ebenezer stone from a weekend in Oklahoma

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” ( 1 Samuel 7:12, ESV).

"We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves. In the same way look down the long aisles of your years at the green branches of mercy overhead and the strong pillars of loving-kindness and faithfulness that support your joys.

"Are there no birds singing in those branches? Surely there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received 'till now.'

"But the word also points forward. For when a man reaches a certain point and writes 'till now,' he is not yet at the end; he still has a distance to go. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories; and then he faces sickness, old age, disease, death. Is it over then? No! Then there is wakening in Jesus’ likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white raiment, the face of Jesus, the company of saints, the glory of God, the fullness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. Be of good courage, believer, and with grateful confidence raise your banner, for—

He who hath helped thee hitherto

Will help thee all thy journey through.

"When read in light of heaven, how glorious and marvelous a prospect will the “till now” provide for your grateful eye!"

    ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, December 29

 Last weekend I raised two Ebenezers, honoring God's grace in 2 decades of (official) autoimmune disease and 5 decades of life on this wild, beautiful, terrible planet. Till now the Lord HAS helped us!