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.” 1 Samuel 7:12 NIV
As another new year approaches, I have found myself once again wondering why we make such a big deal about the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. Is January first really that different from December thirty-first? I try to live one day at a time, not one year at a time. But a recent post from C.H. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional made me rethink my perspective.1
In 1 Samuel chapter 7, Samuel sets up a stone and names it Ebenezer, which means stone of help. This stone of help looks back at how God has brought us through; how he has helped us. This past year I recall trials, and sleepless nights, and days of grief and dread. But I also remember God’s grace. He brought me through each day. He put songs in my heart and gave me laughter. He showed me again and again that He is big enough and his grace really is sufficient.
Come thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise!
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it
Mount of God’s unchanging love!
Spurgeon’s devotion didn’t end with looking back though; he pointed out that “hither to” or “thus far” looks forward as well. As long as we live, there is more to come. More trials, more pain, more anguish and tears. And also more joy, more laughter, more praise, and, thank God, more grace. What God has done in the past, He can and will do again. He will bring us through.
Here I raise my 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.
He didn’t seek us out, rescue us from danger, and bring us into his household to leave us wandering this earth alone. He will, by his good pleasure, bring us safely home. And that is our hope for this new year. I see now God purposefully gave us new days, new seasons, and new years so we can stop and remember. And by remembering his help thus far, have increased trust in him for what lies ahead.
So here, as one year ends and another begins, let us lay down our Ebenezer, our “stone of help”. Let us remember God’s grace which has brought us through. And let us hold fast to the promise and the hope for this new year that he will never leave us or forsake us. Let us say with Samuel, “thus far, the Lord has helped us.”
Grace In Hymn 