Reminder Stones
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3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
4 So the Israelites removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” 6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led the people of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the leaders of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep crying out to the Lord our God so that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines!” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.
10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by Israel.
11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.
12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.14 The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 So Samuel led Israel all the days of his life. 16 Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all these places.
17 Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there. -
Yoked in
Personal Invitation
Introduction - Guess which part of a car that I am thinking about. It is a very important part, not mechanical. It should always be used. There are at least three on every car. It is important for safe driving? Answer – The mirror. Driving a car is not only about looking ahead, it is also about looking back.
When we are facing trials or experiencing hardship or trauma it is good to reflect on how we have been helped in the past.
Looking back reminds us of lessons learnt, and helps us remember people who we have learnt from. It enables us to give thanks FOR people, who have given us good advice, and been kind, caring, and generous to us. Family, faithful friends, advisors, friends of faith. It is good practice to look back (in your rearview mirror) and be thankful (for the encounters that have revealed the Christ-like nature of faithful supportive friends).
Give thanks TO people - you too can become an encourager (a Barnabus type), by communicating thanks and gratitude.
Give thanks to God: our ever-present help, thus far he has helped.
The context of our bible reading is this: More than twenty years have passed since 1 Samuel 3 when the boy Samuel heard the Lord's voice in the middle of the night, when Eli the priest told him to go back to his room and say 'speak Lord for I am listening.'
In 1 Samuel 4 and Chapter 6, the Israelites have been defeated in battle, the Ark of the Covenant has been stolen and Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle. On hearing about his sons deaths, Eli fell off his chair, broke his neck and died. Not a time of good news but it was a time of fulfilment of the prophecy of twenty years earlier (1 Samuel 3:11).
Meanwhile, the Ark, now in the possession of the Philistines was causing all sorts of trouble, plagues, tumours plus their Idol-god Dagon was mysteriously toppled and smashed when the Israelite Ark of the Covenant was left overnight in the temple of Dagon. Eventually, they sent the Ark back to the Israelites on a cart and it arrived in Kerath Jearam where it stayed untill much later (the reign of David) when it was taken to Jerusalem.
Let us examine what happened after that time of waywardness in the Israelites history. I shall use three headings: 1. Their Returning to the Lord, 2. Their coming under attack, 3. Their reminder stone - Ebenezer
Returning to the Lord
Coming under Attack
Reminder Stones
Returning to the Lord
1 Samuel 7:3, tells us the reason why the Israelites had been defeated and humiliated by the Philistines.
'If you are returning to the Lord.. get rid of your foreign gods'
In a word, Idolatry. They had been disloyal to God and mixing it with Baal and Astartes (v4). They were to do with the sun god and agricultural success - soil and fertility. The worship was of an erotic, sensual nature and it influenced the Israelites.
During those twenty years Samuel had exercised his God-given ministry as judge and prophet. Undoubtedly Samuel challenged them about their waywardness and sin but they did not change. It is one thing to be called to repent it is another thing to act on those calls. People can regret the effect or outcome of sin but not repent of those sins. Presumably, the death of 70 men recorded in 1 Samuel 6:19 was a distant memory twenty years later, they did not learn from it, they ignored it or had forgotten about it
Samuel was now calling the people back to God and v3 says if you are returning to the Lord your God with all your heart, (prove it), get rid of the foreign gods and he will deliver you from the Philistines.
This may sound a bit like a history lesson to you but today we live in a society which can influence us and draw us away from loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart.' As a nation we are guilty of idolising our sports stars, men and women and then there is: Strictly, Celebrities, Traitors, Gogglebox. Coming to Lee Abbey we can renew that first love we have for God 'the Lord your God with all your heart' (1st & 2nd of 10 C’s)?
As the Israelites had allowed things to infiltrate their dependency on God – we can allow this infiltration. Compromise says surely these things are not too bad – TV films drink sex celebrities. Tolerance must be set against the 2nd Comm ‘no other gods before me’
Now, we all know these gods cannot meet our deepest desire, our team is defeated and we experience the emptiness and the letdown that should have been predictable but these things still draw us away from loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart.'
Only you and God know if you are truly loving Him with all your heart, rejecting worldly things that draw you away from Him
So Samuel in 1 Samuel 7:5 told them to ‘come to Mizpah, all of you, and I will pray to the Lord for you'.
That's exactly what they did, in a public act of repentance - they prayed, fasted and were sorry for not loving 'the Lord God with all their heart.'
Under Attack
Samuel called a National Assembly at Mizpah (which means watchtower).
You might expect to read that God heard their prayer & spared them from the Philistines. Not so, in fact, the Philistines chose this very time, their most vulnerable time, to attack them.
“When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines.” 1 Samuel 7:7
Mizpah was a city on a hill (in Benjamite territory) and their gathering could be seen by the Philistines. So the Philistines attacked the Israelites at Mizpah again. Ch 4 v 1 tells us that the Philistines had already defeated the Israelites there, years before. Now we have deja vue, fear gripped them as they thought the worst (v8) they said to Samuel , “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.”
The difference between the last attack of the Philistines and this attack was the state of their heart.
Israel had returned to the Lord and the false idols had been smashed.
In that place Mizpah, a place of repentance, they came under attack and as Samuel cried out to the Lord - a great crack of thunder confused the Philistines and they retreated and the Israelites chased after them and won a victory.
A wonderful story of the Lord intervening when they were under attack and helpless.
Can you see the lesson for us today? As you Renew, Refresh, Resource (rededicate your life to God) you will come under attack (from all kinds of enemy) sorrow and tears could manifest - but your help and strength is in the Lord, not in your own determination or your own abilities.
It may be that you have lost a battle in this same place, Mizpah, and I believe the Lord will allow you to gain victory where you feel you may have lost a battle before [it may be relationships, money, pride, anger, lust, drink].
The Lord will be your strength and shield, ever-present help, strong tower – but, yes we will come under attack.
Helen Roseveare was a missionary doctor in the Congo in Africa from 1953 to 1973. She worked with WEC, Worldwide Evangelization Crusade.
She survived rape and unjust trial during the Congolese Civil War in 1964 because of the intervention of the villagers she had helped previously.
In her darkest days of rape & torture she asked the Lord why was he allowing this to happen to her when she was only trying to serve him. The Lord spoke one word to her ‘privilege.’ He added, “Can you thank me for trusting you with this experience even if I never tell you why.”
She learnt to see it as a privilege to come under attack. The enemy does not want you to survive nor does he want you to grow in faith, he does not want you to testify of your wonderful saviour, Jesus Christ.
We sing….'O give me Samuel's Heart’ - that attitude of the heart was about trust.
Oh give me Samuel’s heart a lowly heart, that waits…by day and night a heart that still, moves at the breathing of thy will”
Learning to thank The Lord for trusting you with the experiences of coming under attack was what that meant for Helen Roseveare
We will come under attack but we have a mighty Saviour who has won us the victory on the cross.
Ebwenezer Reminders
Towering over the Needles, at the summit of Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight, stands a huge white marble Celtic cross. It reads "In memory of Alfred Lord Tennyson - this cross is raised as a beacon to sailors” by the people of Freshwater and other friends in England and America"
God was faithful and Samuel erected a stone and called it 'Ebenezer' the stone of help. This was the day, this was the place where they came back to the Lord with all their hearts, the place where they gained a victory over the Philistines. It began a period of decline for the Philistines and Samuel became judge throughout the land.
Ultimately our Ebenezer is the cross. We look to the cross and we see, ‘nothing in our hands we bring, only to the cross we cling.’ I wonder what landmarks do we have of God's faithfulness? Could 27/01/24, this weekend be a landmark for you? An Ebenezer stone 'the stone of help 'not only that marked the time and place but declared “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” The stone spoke of God's faithfulness but also encouraged faith at times of future testing.
I wonder what Ebenezer reminders could you create or have you created that tell of God’s provision, God’s deliverance, Gods presence with you. As you look at the reminders we press on with confidence knowing he will again be faithful for the battles we face today and ahead.
I am fascinated by the stories behind our hymns. The writers sometimes tell of an event or episode that became an inspiration for a particular song and when I hear or sing the hymn I remember how the Lord has helped the writers. Their hymns and poems were like Ebenezer stones to them. The Artists’ painting or sculpture that come out of seeing God in a situation are like Ebenezer stones to them. In a simple way, we can take a stone from the beach and hold it and keep it as a reminder of God’s ever-present help.
We can look at that piece and know their Art marked not only God's faithfulness but also encouraged faith in the face of future testing, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
