Ebenezer?

Yesterday during church, the worship was just awesome. I wanted to be transported straight into the throne room of God and fall at his feet in adoration. I long with every fiber within to hear Him call my name and be in his tangible presence for all the rest of eternity. We sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," a hymn that has such profound and lasting words:

"Here I raise mine 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."

Ebenezer. Did I just sing about Ebenezer? I have to admit that when the line "Here I raise my Ebenezer" comes up, I always get a mental picture of Scrooge. Sure, God, if you want Scrooge, you can have him: "Here he is!" I remember wondering what on earth that line meant, but I don't remember thinking that I would go actively search it out! Amazingly enough, when I was reading in 1st Samuel today, "Ebenezer" made its appearance! Folks: "Ebenezer" only shows up in this book! How awesome is the Holy Spirit?!?

Picture this with me: The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD back to the Israelites. (Apparently, things weren't going so well for them while it was in their possession.) Samuel, the prophet, is the leader of Israel, since at this point in history, there has never been a king. (God was their King, until he gave into their ill desires for a human king.) Samuel instructs the Israelites to commit to the LORD and serve him only. Then, perhaps the LORD would look on them with favor and save them from an impending attack from the Philistines.

I just love it when God shows up at a battle scene and delivers the enemy into his children's hands. This time, He opted to send a huge explosion of thunder into the Philistine's camp, which created a mass panic. In the confusion, the Israelites were able to kill the enemy right and left and secure the victory.

Right after the victory, Samuel sets up a single rock at the place where God met with them. 1st Samuel 7:12 says, "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far has the LORD helped us.'"

The Hebrew for Ebenezer is "Even Haazer" and literally means "Stone of Help." Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. Samuel wanted to physically mark the place of God's help. It symbolized a fresh beginning for the Israelites: the Philistines would not mess with Israel again for the rest of Samuel's days. Samuel wanted the Israelites to have something to look upon to remind them of God's faithfulness and tangible aid.

So, back to the hymn. Now when I sing it, I think I can visualize something better than Ebenezer Scrooge. When I raise my Ebenezer, I can raise up a stone of remembrance for God's restoration in my life. I can praise Him for his mercies that are new every morning. He has been my "Stone of Help" and words cannot express how passionate I am about Him.