Signora Sheila

For several years, I kept two homemade placards on our entry mirror. They read Ebenezer and Jehovah-Jireh. Two powerful words from Scripture, that mean “stone of help” and “Yahweh will provide.” In other words, the Lord has helped us so far – and He will continue to do so.

Now as the year 2020 draws to a close, those long-gone placards came to mind. And they seem both a fitting epithet to this year – and a great banner to raise for 2021.

An Ebenezer year

The year 2020 may be the strangest year many of us have ever seen. Even my 85-year-old father says it’s the strangest he can remember. This pandemic has brought so much worry, isolation and hardship, along with rising poverty and unemployment. Yet, looking back, I can say, “So far, the Lord has helped us.”

2020 has been, perhaps, the strangest year many of us have ever seen. Even my 85-year old father says it’s the strangest he remembers. This pandemic has brought so much worry, isolation, and sickness, along with rising poverty and unemployment. Yet in looking back, I can say “up to now the Lord has helped us.”

Ebenezer in Scripture

Ebenezer was located between the Judean mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. In a fertile valley with perennial springs, it was often used as a kind of ancient retreat or hideaway. An easily defendable location as well, it also served as a strategic battlefield.

It was here, in 1 Samuel 4, that the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. And where, because of their sinful hearts, suffered defeat and lost the precious Ark of God.

And also where, in 1 Samuel 7, we find the Philistines marching to attack Israel. But at this point the Israelites, who had repented of their wickedness, implored the prophet Samuel to call upon the Lord for help. And He sent thunder and confusion into the enemy camp, and they fled of their accord.

After Israel’s victory there, Samuel set up a stone as a remembrance of God’s help. He said, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” And he called it Eben-ezer: Stone of Help.

Israel lost the battle in 1 Samuel 4 because their sin had caused the Lord to withdraw His presence from them. And they went into battle without God’s pillar of help in their midst.

But they went into the second battle with God’s presence, their stone of help. And He gave them victory.

We find important lessons in Ebenezer.

It emphasizes the need to live a life pleasing to God. And shows that when we do so, we can always count on Him to be our Eben-ezer, our stone of help.

But does this guarantee that we will always have victory? That all our problems will go away? Hardly!

Israel faced many difficulties over the years. Sometimes because of their own sin and lack. But other times, because God was working out His plan and purpose for mankind.

Just take a look at the lives of Joseph, Esther, Daniel, and other godly men and women of God who suffered through no fault of their own.

But in each of these cases, God had a greater plan in mind. Joseph’s imprisonment saved the nation of Israel and many others from starvation. The Lord used Esther’s captivity to save her people from destruction. And Daniel to help lead his people back to reclaim their homeland.

But the outstanding thing about these godly people is that they always kept their eyes fixed on the rock of Eben-ezer. Through all their trials, they kept looking back to say, “So far the Lord has helped us.

Into a Jehovah-Jireh year

And this helped them move forward with Jehovah-Jireh on their lips: “God will provide.” They knew God as a firm, solid, and unchanging rock. They lived with the certainty that as He had helped them in the past, He would continue to do so in the future.

2020 has been a difficult, trial-filled year. One in which (sad to say) I often complained, chafing under all the restrictions. But looking back I have to say that it has also been an Ebenezer year. Thus far the Lord has helped us.

And I’m certain that the coming year will be a Jehovah-Jireh year. God will provide. With Ebenezer and Jehovah-Jireh as our banners, I think we can enter 2021 in safety and with confidence.

Even not knowing what it will bring. The pandemic situation could either be end or get worse. We may face even more poverty, unemployment, and disease. Or perhaps new calamities will occur.

But I want to encourage you with this thought. If you’re reading this, it means that God has been an Ebenezer to you. He has brought you through. You may be battle-scarred and you may feel weak – but He has been your stone of help. And because one of His names is Jehovah-Jireh – He will continue to provide.

Has the roller coaster of 2020 left you feeling dizzy or even battle weary? Remember this one thing: The Lord has been your Ebenezer. He has brought you through!!

📷 Image credits: stones | 2020 diary