Theology in Unusual Terms
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
How many of us have ever joined the singing of the hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” voicing the part of the second stanza that says, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come” yet wondering about the meaning of this rather strange term “Ebenezer”?
Historical marker
After a successful encounter with the Philistines, the Israelites experienced God’s positive answer to Samuel’s prayer for divine help in a time of need. That answer took the form of mighty thunder that sent the Philistine army into such confusion that they retreated out of fear for what they perceived to be the anger of Israel’s God.
In the aftermath of their deliverance, Samuel placed a memorial stone as a reminder of the event. He called the name of the stone Ebenezer, saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1 Sam. 7:12).
The Ebenezer stone would be for Israel a perpetual reminder of a desperate time when God made the difference between defeat and victory.
The meaning attached to Samuel’s Ebenezer stone invites us to recall and reflect on times in our lives when God demonstrated His faithfulness to intervene and help.
God’s redemptive intervention and divine dealings are valued times in our own stories.
Looking back on our own Ebenezer moments, we can recount several truths about God.
When God makes the difference in life’s difficult moments, we learn something about His providences and, hopefully, about His purposefulness.
By divine providence the timing of the thunderstorm served God’s purpose of providing deliverance for His people. As has often been noted, God may not show up or act at the moment we desire, but He is always on time in keeping with His purposes.
Behind God’s timing is His unfailing faithfulness and helpfulness. Contrary to what we might be inclined to think, He is never too early nor too late in His timing. God’s actions also are guided by His loving kindness and abundant mercy.
Present trust
If we look closely enough, we can mark those times in the past when we can confess, “Hither by Thy help I’m come.” Such remembrances act as memory keys to trigger present trust.
Few things can strengthen faith more effectively than memories of an experience in which God made the difference between failure and success, emptiness and fullness, or aimlessness and purpose.
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