Here I raise my Ebenezer!

A friend recently asked me if I named my cat Ebenezer after Dickens’ miserly character, or the 18th century hymn.

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Truth be told, it was the former, as I saw good humor in the whole pet/owner similarities and a grumpy legacy seemed fitting for my cat. I hadn’t even heard of the hymn, much less that “Ebenezer” has biblical heritage.

As it turns out, Samuel prayed for protection over the Israelite army as they battled the Philistines. God answered Sam’s prayer, and in commemoration he erected a stone monument (called an “ebenezer”) to remind the people of God’s help in their desperate need.

“Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
(1 Samuel 7:12)

Robert Robinson’s hymn exclaims: “Here I raise my Ebenezer!”

As I look out of my bedroom into the field behind my apartment, into the quiet Colorado mid-afternoon, I’m at peace. When I look back and remember the inner turmoil that waged in my mind, a foe that was larger than I was, I’m at rest. I realize that, yes, God has helped me along thus far.

Though I haven’t always felt this way, and though the doubts and sorrows will likely return again, I know now that God doesn’t have it in for me. He’s neither the heckler nor the jackal. He’s the helper.

He really does know me intimately. He really does care about me, though I don’t always care for myself. He’s the helper when I need Him most.

It will be hard not to think of Prophet Sam and the outmatched Hebrew army when I pet my cat now. I suppose he’s my little mile marker.

Here I raise my Ebenezer, a monument to testify of God’s help.

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10 Comments

  1. Praise God and bless your little Ebenezer.
    God is always with you, even when you feel He isn’t. It is not He who leaves us.

  2. He doesn’t ever leave us. It makes me sad when people say they have been bad and God has left them.

  3. I love this post. It’s wonderful to be able to look back at the past and see God’s fingerprints all over my life, especially through the hard times. When I doubt I try to stop and remember all the Lord has done and it helps to build my faith back up.

  4. Wow, Rob! What a great post. I am gratful for the ah-hah (lightbulb) moment when I realized that God is on my side and guiding me through each day no matter how bad it might seem to me. It is great to know that we have such a loving friend and father that only wants the best for us even when we can’t see it. 💡

  5. I can’t tell you how excited I was to read this post, especially since I met you when God seemed to you very much the heckler! What a lot can change in a year, huh? This was awesome to read, bro.

  6. Cool. Happy for you. I think we’ve all been there, myself still working my way back through. And when one rejoices, we all rejoice. 🙂

  7. You would not believe what I saw yesterday! There is a little church on Preston, north of 635, the is called “The Ebenezer Worship Center”. It looks really old. I will have to take a picture of it.

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