Raising Your Ebenezer - Pt 2

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 ESV). Robinson must have been thinking about this truth when he wrote the lyrics to “Come Thou Fount” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG1WDdFab3g): Here I raise my Ebenezer: Here by Thy great help I’ve come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wand’ring from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood. Of course, this would not be the end of Israel’s story. Many more dangers, toils, and snares were to come. Samuel raising the “stone of help” was in no way a declaration that the final victory had been won, but that up to that point God had helped them. And because God’s people weren’t yet out of the woods, this Ebenezer had a part to play in reminding the nation to keep the faith in the days ahead. So it is with us today, who sing Robinson’s hymn and remember Samuel’s prayer. Our stories are not yet over, and we are not yet out of the woods. Many more threats await us and will assault our faith. And we know our hearts are helpless apart from the tuning and sealing of God’s grace. We are prone to wander. Yet as we live in the tension of this moment called the present, where the rapids of the future rush at us and collect behind us into the pool of the past, we know who our God has shown himself to be. He indeed is the fountain of every blessing. He is the one whose streams of mercy never cease and will be new again tomorrow (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23). And not only has he shown himself faithful in countless small kindnesses and rescues, but chiefly in the death of his own Son for us (v. 8), the mountain peak of his redeeming love, the Ebenezer we call Calvary. Jesus spilled his own blood to rescue us when we were wandering. How much more will he now save us from the dangers to come? He has raised the stone of help, and our hope to arrive safely home, come what may, is no mere wish, but a sure and steady hope, as sure as God is God. If we belong to Christ, he will fetter us to himself and seal our hearts for heaven’s courts.