September 21, 2019: Day 7 – I Samuel 7

It seems as if we have entered once again the season of the the Judges.  Samuel takes on the responsibility of being a Judge as we find in vs.16 of this chapter.  Notice that he is ministering to the people of Israel as the high priest.  During this time the Philistines tried to go against him because they heard that they were all gathered at Mizpah.  As a result they went up against the Israelites, probably to show this new upstart who was in charge, and tried to slaughter them while they were in Mizpah.

It didn’t go so well.  The Lord actually revealed himself in a terrifying loud voice and created confusion among the Philistines as they were attempting to attack the Israelites.  As a result the men of Israel were able to rout the Philistines and they chased them away from their land.  That went well.  Do you know the song that goes: Here I raise my Ebenezer?  This is from where it comes.  Samuel raised an Ebenezer, which means stone of help, in order to show what the Lord had done on that day.  What is our stone of help?   What do we have a signal and a sign to us that the Lord is going to help.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have somewhere in the church, maybe in the courtyard, a stone of help, an Ebenezer to remind us that the Lord is our help and our strength.  Let’s finish this day with a reminder that we ought to raise an Ebenezer to remember that God has helped us.