Ebenezer

"One Year Bible" Old Testament History Passage
1 Samuel 5:1-7:17

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.'"  I Samuel 7:12 (NKJV)

Three chapters ago, in I Samuel 4:21, it seemed to one lady as if all was lost.  In her distress, and in fact, in her dying breath, she named her child Ichabod, declaring that the Lord had judged and forsaken Israel.  The glory had departed. 

Now, a few years later, the ark has been recovered, and a great victory has been won by Israel over the Philistines.  In gratitude, Samuel set up a memorial and called it Ebenezer, which literally means "stone of help."

This is the nature of a testimony.  There is no TESTIMONY without a TEST.  The nature of our walk with God is not an unending succession of successes and victories.  We continually face greater and greater challenges, yet "in all these things we are more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37).  Remember, it really is not OUR testimony, it is the testimony of the Lord! 

He wants to fight our battles for us.  He wants to bring us into fullness.  In order to bring the greatest glory to His Name, He surrounds us with great challenges, so that we know that He and He alone brought us through. 

A memorial is set up to remind us of something important.  We need to be reminded regularly, "The Lord is my help.  He is my Ebenezer."