Ebenezers

 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 God’s unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m 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.

O 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, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

I love this hymn.  The melody is catchy, and oh, how the words minister to my heart.  Isn’t it just like a prayer?

You might already know what an ebenezer is, or you may not.  I was informed a few years ago, but had to go look it up again, as I had forgotten.  According to dictionary.com, ebenezer comes from the Hebrew;  ebhen ezar “stone of help,” from ebhen “stone” + ezer “help.”  It is mentioned in 1 Samuel 7,    read it, the story is fascinating.  After I looked this up and re-learned it, I realized I needed to blog about it, because unknowingly, I have raised some of my own “ebenezers”, but I never knew they had a name.

In the past, I’ve kept a prayer journal, and recorded God’s answers to my prayers.

My own blog “New Things” is an ebenezer.  It is named for a word that the Lord gave me, prior to my need for it.  It comes from Isaiah 43, and has been a constant reminder of God’s help and goodness to me.

Mile marker 91 on Idaho’s Highway 95 is an ebenezer.  I wrote about it here, and here.

I have a prayer card with a relevant verse of Scripture that was given to me by my niece at just the right time.  That is an ebenezer.  (And I see it every day, it is perched above my kitchen sink).

Anniversary dates, patron saints, even children appropriately named can be an “ebenezer” of sorts.  Remember the story of Isaac’s birth?  Isaac means laughter, and he was so named as a memorial to his mother’s response to God’s promise to her of a child born in her old age.  My son’s name with his birthdate (Joshua 1:9) has become a life verse for him.

Why an ebenezer?  Because we are forgetful.  When the children of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land, Moses warned them not to forget (Deuteronomy 4).  We need reminders.  Look again at the story of in 1 Samuel from above.  “to remind the children of Israel of the Lord’s aid in defeating the Philistines, the prophet Samuel built a monument, named it Ebenezer and said ” “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (1 Sam. 7:12)”  I need reminders.  I need a place that I can look back on, and I need something concrete that I can show my children, and their children; “THIS is where God came down and helped me, THIS is where I saw the hand of God in my life.  “THIS is a memorial to Him for the mighty work He has done”. 

Do you have Ebenezers?  I’d love to hear about them.