The Rock, Ebenezer : The Lord Got Us Here

God’s enemies were causing a lot of trouble for Israel — AGAIN. And often, the enemies were winning because so many of God’s Family were sinning by having idols. But when God’s Holy Box (the Ark of the Covenant) returned to Israel, the people wanted to turn things around. They longed to be God’s Holy People again.

So Samuel said to them, “If you are really turning your hearts back to the Lord, you must throw away all of your false gods. Give your hearts ONLY to the one true Lord God. Then He will save you from your enemies.”

And do you know what? They did! They obeyed and got rid of all the yucky idols. They served ONLY the Lord.

Samuel said, “Everyone gather together, get all of Israel in one spot, and I will pray for ALL of you.” So the people came close, close, close to each other, to Samuel, and to God, and Samuel prayed for all God’s Children. Then they admitted out loud their sins, and God forgave them.

But when the enemy Philistines heard that God’s People were all gathered in one place, they thought, “Let’s go attack them again now! That way we can beat them ALL at once!”

But what the enemy didn’t know was that this time, God was fighting with His Family. So the enemy was about to be in BIG trouble.

When God’s People heard that the enemies were coming to attack, they asked Samuel, “Please, don’t stop praying! Keep crying out to God to save us!” So Samuel took a baby lamb and offered it to God, begging Him to help.

The enemies charged toward God’s children — Boom, Boom, Boom! Loud thunder boomed all around! The enemies were scared and started to panic! Aaaaaahhh!

Now God’s Army’s job was easy! They rushed forward and easily beat those enemies. God had helped them and had given them the victory once again. Hooray!

After this, Samuel took a big stone and put it in the place where this amazing thing had happened. Samuel said, “The Lord has helped us get this far!”; and he named the rock “Ebenezer,” which means “Rock of Help.”

Could it be?

Do you remember us talking about how I keep a special little box that reminds me of things God has done for me? Could it be this rock is kind of like that? Could it be that Samuel put that rock there so that every time they saw it they could say to themselves, “God got us here! And with His help we won’t lose this ground to the enemy again. God got us this far, and we’re not going backwards!”

As you grow and follow God, you’ll see things in your life where God helps you win victories over sin. You may already see little glimpses of that in your life. Like maybe you used to be very selfish with your toys… or maybe you used to get angry if you had to take a bath. Those things are very bad, aren’t they? But with help from those who know and love God, maybe you’ve already learned to pull those yucky bad weeds up and be a cheerful sharer or a happy bather.

If so, maybe you should put an Ebenezer Rock by your toys or bathtub, to remind you just how far God has helped you get already. So when you see that rock you can think, “Hey, I can just keep moving FORWARD! No reason to ever go backwards to being a tiny taking toddler or bawling bathtub baby again.”

I bet there are some things like this in your life already! Can you think of any?

After that battle with the enemies, and after Samuel set up that Ebenezer Rock, those enemies never invaded Israel again for the rest of Samuel’s lifetime!

Remembering what God has done to get us where we are is part of what helps us to NOT go backwards. So it’s important that you remember, remember, remember how God has helped you! When God helps us get somewhere, we don’t ever have to go back to how we were before.

A rock, a journal, a picture on the wall — have some rock-solid reminders to help you remember just how far God has helped you get, and hold on to it!