Raise an Ebenezer

 

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’ve come...”  Those were the original words to the second stanza of Robert Robinson’s famous hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Ev’ry Blessing.”  Most modern hymnal publishers have changed the wording because people have become less biblically literate and don’t recognize the reference to “raising an ‘Ebenezer.’”   (Hint:  It has nothing to do with a Christmas story!)  In the early chapters of the book of I Samuel in the Hebrew Scriptures, we observe Israel being harassed by their perennial enemies, the Philistines.  It is, actually, their own fault.  They had abandoned their worship and service to their one God, Yahweh, and, instead had adopted the pagan practices of the surrounding culture.  In a fascinating and sometimes humorous story, the Philistines captured the Israelite’s “Ark of the Covenant,” which was an important symbol of Yahweh’s presence among his people.  They made the mistake of setting the Ark up in the temple of their pagan god, Dagon.  The next morning, the Philistines found that the image of Dagon had toppled over.  They set it back up only to find it toppled again with its arms and legs shattered the next morning.  Disturbed by what they saw, the Philistines passed the Ark from town to town with similar devastating results.  They finally figured out that it was a mistake to take the Ark in the first place and returned it to the Israelites with lavish gifts and sacrifices, hoping to atone for their offence. 

The Ark stayed in Israel where the Philistines had returned it for a long time – twenty years.  And Israel seemed to get the message as well. They were sorry for turning their backs on Yahweh; the Bible says they “mourned and sought after the Lord.”  The prophet, Samuel, instructed them to abandon their pagan gods, which they did, and gather together to worship Yahweh.  Evidently, at this point, the Philistines had recovered from their fear of Yahweh and decided that it would be a good idea to attack the Israelites while they were worshipping.  Bad idea.  God fought for Israel that day and the Philistines were slaughtered.  Yahweh had rescued his people.  To memorialize the people’s return to God and his faithfulness to them, Samuel set up an altar and named it, “’Ebenezer,’ meaning, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us.’”

We are now just emerging from the pandemic storm that has enveloped us for over a year.

Metaphorically speaking, the winds are still blowing, but it is now safe to come out of our “hiding places” and survey the damage.  It’s not unlike coming out of your basement after a tornado has passed.  The pandemic storm has wreaked havoc in many ways.  Many of us have lost loved ones to the virus.  Others have lost jobs, businesses, or friends.  Who knows the effects the pandemic has had on the education of our children?  Most likely, it will take years for us to recover and this generation will never forget the struggles of 2020-2021. 

But there are good things to survey as well.  Effective vaccines were developed in record time.  Many of us had to learn new technologies.  Some have even been able to transition to working mostly from home rather than commuting to an office every day.  I survived, even though I had a tough go of it with the virus in November.  One of the people we prayed for in our church came back from an induced coma with the virus and is now recovering at home.  God has indeed helped me - helped us. 

Though the winds of Covid are still blowing, it’s time for us to emerge with thanksgiving and “raise an Ebenezer” of gratitude for God’s faithfulness in helping us.  Then, we’ll be able to sing with confidence the rest of Robinson’s strain, “And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.”