May the mumbling commence!
Come to the Lord in good faith, and God will be the only
stone of help that you will ever need.
That is how the prophet and judge of Israel, Samuel, lead the Lord’s
people. Read from First Samuel chapter
seven:
Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, "If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and
your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the Lord; then he will rescue you from the Philistines."
So the Israelites
destroyed their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.
Then Samuel told them, "Come
to Mizpah, all of you. I will pray to the Lord
for you."
So they gathered
there and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before
the Lord. They also went without
food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. So it was at Mizpah that Samuel
became Israel's judge.
When the Philistine rulers heard that all Israel had
gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned
that the Philistines were approaching. "Plead with the Lord our God to save us from the
Philistines!" they begged Samuel. So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He
pleaded with the Lord to help
Israel, and the Lord answered.
Just as Samuel
was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived for battle. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of
thunder from heaven, and the
Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them.
The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to Beth-car, slaughtering them
all along the way.
Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the
towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer – "the stone of
help" – for he said, "Up to this point the Lord has helped us!" (Verses 3-12)
It is alarming when you are making the steps down the
path that the Lord has put before you but the situation does not seem to
improve. That was the situation with
Israel during the Philistine oppression.
Israel destroyed their idols at the prompting of Samuel. They fasted all day. They named Samuel as a prophet and judge.
Israel did all these things in hopes that the Lord would
end the Philistine oppression. Instead,
the Philistines thought Israel was vulnerable because Israel was all gathered
to one place. The Philistines chose to
attack.
And Israel was frightened. They pleaded with Samuel, and Samuel offered
up an offering to the Lord. He pleaded
with God to help Israel in this time of distress.
Then what happened? The Philistines came to attack Israel as soon
as the sacrifice was completed. Misery!
But the Lord spoke from on high and threw the
Philistines into confusion so that Israel easily defeated their
oppressors. And Samuel put up a large
stone as a monument. He named it
Ebenezer.
It seems odd to those of us who are familiar with Dickens’s
“Christmas Carol”. Ebenezer Scrooge was
a miser after all. But Ebenezer means stone
of help in Hebrew.
When things look
particularly bleak, don’t fret. The Lord
God Almighty is our stone of help, our Ebenezer. Praise God!
And there was no lower moment than when the body of
Jesus was put in the tomb. Read from
John chapter nineteen:
Afterward Joseph
of Arimathea, who had been
a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked
Pilate for permission to take Jesus' body down. When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took the
body away. Nicodemus, the man who had
come to Jesus at night, also came, bringing about seventy-five pounds of embalming ointment made from myrrh
and aloes. Together they wrapped Jesus'
body in a long linen cloth with the spices, as is the Jewish custom of burial. The place of
crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used
before. And so, because it was the day
of preparation before the Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they
laid Jesus there. (Verses
38-42)
Honor the Lord even at the lowest of your lows. And God will be your stone of help.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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