How has camp served as an “Ebenezer stone” for you? How has it served as a marker of the faithfulness of God in your life? This devotion was shared with our summer staff at the end of Summer 2016, encouraging them that what they experienced at camp was not the end—instead it was just the beginning of the journey of following Jesus.
We’ve sang the song “Come Thou Fount” a number of times at camp, and the second verse begins with a phrase that’s really easy to skip past: Here I raise my Ebenezer…
When I was a kid, I had no clue what that was all about. (Actually, I always thought that Ebenezer would be a good name for a dog, so that was usually the direction my mind went!) But it’s actually a really powerful statement. Because what the word “Ebenezer” literally means is “stone of help”, and it comes from an incredible Old Testament story about Samuel and the Israelites.
Background: The Rise of Samuel
When Samuel was born, Israel was in the midst of a long period of time of being ruled by judges. Samuel’s mom was Hannah, who thought she was never going to have children. Year after year she would pray to the Lord for children, and finally she made a vow that if she did have a child, she would give him to the Lord.
The Lord answers her prayers. Hannah finally has her long-awaited child—a son that she names Samuel. She remembers her promise and in due time brings Samuel to the high priest of Israel, Eli, to be raised in service to the Lord. Now, Eli’s not too bad, but his sons are terrible—they treat their role as priests of God with contempt and make a mockery of their duties.
Meanwhile, Samuel is growing up dedicated to the Lord, and one day when he’s still a child, he’s called by God. “See I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:11) This is a crucial, crucial point in history for Israel. And the context of the word “Ebenezer” comes in the aftermath of all this. Of these corrupt priests and Samuel’s calling and a shift in the leadership of Israel.
At this point in their history, Israel and the Philistines have been fighting for seemingly forever. The Philistines are Israel’s bitterest rivals; there is constant conflict between the two nations. Soon after Samuel gets called by God, the Israelites are attacked by the Philistines and defeated. When Israel’s soldiers get back to camp they’re like, “Well, let’s bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant with us next time so that it can with us and save us from the hands of our enemies.” Good intentions, terrible, terrible idea. The Philistines are freaked out at first when they hear the Israelite army has the ark of the covenant, but then they rally and just destroy the Israelites. The ark gets captured, Eli’s two sons die, and when Eli hears the new he falls out of his chair and dies as well. Samuel is now the de facto spiritual leader of the nation of Israel.
The Philistines keep the ark for seven months, and during that time, disaster follows every place they try to put the ark. There are tumors and rats involved; it’s crazy. So the Philistines are like, we’re sending it back! They return of the ark of the covenant to Israel, and this becomes the spark that draws the hearts of the people of Israel back towards God.
And this is where we pick up the story. This is where we find out what Samuel’s leadership of Israel is going to look like. This is where we discover the origin of Here I raise my Ebenezer.
1 Samuel 7:3-13
So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.
Samuel calls the people of Israel to turn back to the Lord. Everyone assembles at Mizpah and Samuel intercedes for them before the Lord while the people fast and pray. The Philistines hear about this and they’re like, this is our chance. Everyone’s together, let’s get them!
The Israelites hear the Philistines are coming to attack them and they freak out. They’re like, “Samuel, you can’t stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, or the Philistines are going to destroy us.” So Samuel sacrifices a burnt offering to the Lord, he cries out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answers him.
As Samuel is finishing up this sacrifice, the Philistines draw near to engage the Israelites. As they do, there’s a huge crash of thunder, the Philistines freak out, they panic, and they’re routed by the Israelites. The Israelites just destroy them. Victory is snatched from defeat.
This Far
Afterwards, Samuel takes a stone, and he sets it up by Mizpah, at this place where God has interceded so clearly on behalf of the Israelites. And he names the stone Ebenezer. Stone of help. And this is what Samuel says when he puts the stone into place: “This far the Lord has helped us.”
This far the Lord has helped us.
Samuel wants a physical marker to point back to. So he uses a rock to serve as a tangible reminder of the faithfulness of God.
When we sing about “Here I raise my Ebenezer” in Come Thou Fount, it’s about remembering where God has brought us. It’s remembering His faithfulness. It’s saying this is the place in my life where God revealed himself in a very real and powerful way.
And that’s what I hope camp has been for you.
Something to hold onto. Something that has opened your eyes to the faithfulness of God in your life. That has opened your eyes to a God who loves fiercely and faithfully, whose strength works in your weakness.
An Ebenezer stone is really the physical embodiment of a question and an answer: How far has God brought us? This far.
That’s what I want you to think about right now. How far has God brought you? This far.
Leaving camp is hard. Because it’s been an incredible summer, and God has shown up in incredible was. And leaving that behind is hard.
We talk at camp sometimes about how when you leave this place you’re going back to the “real world”. And there’s some truth in that. But what I want to tell you today is this: This is the real world. What you’ve had a chance to experience and be a part of this summer at camp? This is the real world. This is the kingdom Jesus is calling you to be a part of. You’ve gotten a taste of it this summer. And now you have a lifetime to live into it more fully and deeply and completely.
Let this summer and what you’ve experienced serve as a reminder and a marker stone of the faithfulness of God to you. Because the value of this, is that it’s something to hold onto in the dark times. It’s something to hold on to when troubles come and you can’t see the road ahead and you don’t know what you’re going to. It’s something to hold on to and say, “This far.” This is where God has been. This is how he has revealed himself in my life.
How far has God brought us? This far.