1 Samuel 7:12

Israel's victory was well worth remembering, and Samuel wisely raised his "Ebenezer" at the spot. The monument meant twice as much because it was beside Ebenezer that they had met such a crushing defeat twenty years before. In setting up his memorial stone (the stone of help), Samuel was like Paul before Agrippa, who says with the boldest confidence, "To this day I have had the help that comes from God." He is our rock, our "stone of help," our Ebenezer!

What a contrast between Israel's boastful shout in 1 Samuel 4 and the Lord's thunder in 1 Samuel 7! The first was human pretension; the second was divine power. Humiliating defeat followed the one at once; splendid triumph followed the other. The Philistines knew nothing of what had taken place — the water poured out, the cry of repentance, the offering of the lamb, the priest's intercession. … People of the world can understand and admire self-assertion and self-confidence, but these are the very things that shut God out. On the other hand, a broken heart, a repentant spirit, a humble mind are His delight. … The fullness of God always waits on an empty vessel.

Gideon made an ephod and put it in his city, and it became a trap instead of a memorial of the Lord's deliverance. In such a case the moment of victory becomes the moment of danger. Samuel's stone records the Lord's help, and not Israel's strength or faithfulness. … Ebenezer tells of the Lord's intervention in a different situation — a stone of help for a people who were sinful, and yet, through grace, repentant. And what is our Ebenezer? … Lord Jesus, You are our Stone of help — our Ebenezer.

Samuel was careful to keep Israel from gloating over such a victory. … Their attitude was thankful, but subdued: "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." As for the future, they had to remember that they could expect His help only as they truly recognized His authority and depended on His mercy.

Ebenezer, already mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1, does not receive its name until after this victory. "Hitherto": now that this foundation is laid, the enemy no longer tries to raise his head. Restoration, for the moment at least, is complete.

When the eye rests on the "Ebenezers" that lie all along the way, the heart must send up its sweet "Hallelujahs." They rise to Him who has helped us until now, and who will help us right to the end. He has delivered, and He does deliver, and He will deliver. Blessed chain! Every link in it is divine deliverance.

A Christian who had known God's goodness for fifty years said this. If she had raised a stone of remembrance every time the Lord helped her, she would have built a solid wall fifty years long. … If there are gaps in our wall of Ebenezers, they mark the times when in self-sufficiency and pride we thought we could manage our own affairs without reference to God. Then we had to learn hard lessons about our folly, and admit that independence from the Lord meant disaster for us. But even then He was not far from us, and He has often proved to us that His grace is greater than our failure.

They forget the lesson of Ebenezer completely. They turn, not to God, but to human strength. … When will people — when will we — learn to turn to God alone in the difficulties and dangers of life?