A NEW EBENEZER

Today we see Israel coming to a new Ebenezer.

Last week we left Samuel explaining to Israel that God would not give them victory until they put away their idols. 

PUTTING IDOLS AWAY

Israel finally listened.  There was a great revival in Israel.  They gathered to worship, repent and to tell God they realized He and He Alone is The One True God.  As their idols disappeared, God’s Holy Spirit began to work among the people again.

The enemies noticed.  They were waiting and watching.  They wanted to catch Israel in a vulnerable moment.  The thought was to find a weakness and attack them in that place.  Those pagans felt their worship of God was a weakness.

Oh, were they wrong!

CONFESSION AT MIZPAH

As the people gathered in worship at Mizpah they confessed their sins.  All of the idols were completely destroyed.  God was again honored and adored in Israel. The Israelites sincerely sought God’s face and wept bitterly before Him.  Many were fasting. 

God heard.

Samuel officiated and offered the sacrifices of the people unto The LORD.

A SNEAK ATTACK

While Samuel was offering the sacrifices those ungodly Philistines began to attack.  It was their plan to catch Israel off-guard and unprepared.

Nonetheless, Israel gathered themselves together and went out to fight the Philistines.  Unlike the past battle when they went out to fight all full of sin and depending only upon themselves; this time God was with them.

Unlike their last Ebenezer, God sent down supernatural power from Heaven to help His people in their battle. 

Loud thunder filled the land. 

The Philistines were frightened by the extremely loud and awful sound. 

SUPERNATURAL HELP FROM HEAVEN

Clearly the Lord was speaking out with firm support for his people.   Chaos and panic prevailed with the Philistines.

The Israelites became the clear winners of this new and unexpected battle.

As negotiations between the nations proceeded forward the cities that the Philistines had previously captured were quickly restored to Israel. 

A MESSAGE TO GOD’S ENEMIES

For a long time, the Philistines kept their distance and left the Israelites alone.  They had seen that The One True God of Israel was going to protect and defend His people. 

It took a lot to frighten these wild and terrible Philistines, but finally it was done.  The Philistines feared The God of Israel.

God had given Israel another great victory.  It would not have happened if they had not decided to follow Samuel’s advice and put away their idols.  They had to repent of their idolatry and sin against God before God could come back into communion with them.

NOTICE THE PATTERNS

Doesn’t this pattern look familiar to those of us living today?

Have you ever let something else in your life become more important than God?

That is how idols begin to control you.

They creep into your days, excite you about their false pretenses, convince you that they are for your good when they are not, and then they take over everything that had previously belonged to God in your life.  This means your time, activities, relationships, creativity, interests and hobbies.  All the purposes that God had been growing in your life become corrupted by their false ideas and fake promises. 

A SLOWLY SEEPING PROCESS

Usually Satan follows a slow process, one little thing at a time that builds upon other things.  Before you know it you are dedicated to whatever you have let take control. It happens that you are not a bit focused on the purposes that God has given you for the promotion of The Kingdom of Heaven.

For example, maybe you are letting people who believe differently than you control your actions.  This is what was happening when the Israelites intermarried with the Canaanites.  Instead of Israel having a positive effect upon these unions, Canaan was having a negative effect upon these Israelites. 

Perhaps you are slowly drawn into new ways to spend your time. You are allowing time to things that pull you away from keeping the true Sabbath and God’s Holy Days. 

Or maybe you are being drawn to reading other materials that do not conform or confirm the scriptures that you have previously studied.  You find your bible sitting on the shelf gathering dust instead of being read.  You have substituted it with worldly stories and books that do not cause God’s ways to flourish in your life.   They slowly erode your desire for holiness in your days.

YOUR FOCUS BECOMES YOUR IDOL

It could be money that rules the day for you.  Maybe you are saving for something material that you desire more than using your financial blessings to multiply the work of God’s Kingdom.  Perhaps you have let the idol of financial security rob you of spiritual security.  Money can quickly become an idol if we are not paying attention.

Then there is the possibility of forgetting to spend time in prayer.  Maybe you have begun to make your own decisions without consulting God at all.  (Like the Israelites marching into battle with the Ark BEFORE consulting God and losing it to their enemies.) 

It is so important that we spend time every day with God in prayer.  This is how we know His will for our lives.  Everything we do must be directed from God and His ways.  If not, we become our own idols, raising ourselves to a level that says we are smarter than God.  Here is a link to consider this further: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/cut-down-asherah-poles/

Really?  Can the creation outthink their Creator?  I think not.

A NEW PAGE FOR ISRAEL

It appeared that the Israelites had finally learned their lesson.  They had put God first. Now they were following His words and His ways again.  It was a great time for Israel.  Samuel led them through all of this, listening for God’s guidance and proclaiming His word to all of the people.

During this time Samuel began to realize that this was a time which should be marked and remembered.  A memorial of this victory would help the people to remember how much better their lives are when they conform all their ways to God’s will.

At first the people had been sorely defeated because of their human error.  Now they had obtained victory. It was all possible because they had once again aligned themselves to God’s will.

A MOMENT TO REMEMBER

This definitely was a moment to remember.

Samuel placed an Ebenezer stone in this place of the victory so that Israel would always see it and remember how far they had come with God’s help.

The God of Great Reversals had reversed the loss at Ebenezer and replaced it with new victory.

Samuel set the stone up and said, “So far the Lord has helped us.” 

This became Israel’s new Ebenezer Stone.  Ebenezer means “stone of help.”

WINNING WITH A WARNING

This was like a victory proclamation and yet a warning at the same time.  The victory said God had helped them to win.  A warning was that unless the people continued to be true to God and leave off their idols, the situation would only be temporary. 

Maybe this rock (stone) would help them to remember.

GOD IS NEVER MOCKED

Once again, God will not be mocked. 

How many times have all human governments had to learn this lesson?  Israel learned it again and again.  They needed to keep this lesson fresh and alive in order to become the great nation God intended them to be. The message of the stone was always there as a constant reminder for them to continue to fulfil the purposes of their future.

The whole world depended upon this, not just Israel. 

What happened to Israel, every step of the way and all the way up until today, has affected all of us.  This fact is still true. It will never change.

Praise God for the victories that He has given so far.

Also; praise God for the grace, mercy and love which He has always provided to mankind as a whole.