“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the LORD has helped us." 1 Samuel: 7.12

In this beginning of the last month of the current year, I would like to invite us to an expedition in the past. Let’s take, a return ticket for a place that we have already gone through, along teachings or Bible readings, but also through our personal experience of salvation. Let's go back to Ebenezer

Ebenezer means: the stone of rescue. This stone marks an exceptional stage, on the course of the people of Israel. Carried away by all sorts of weaknesses, the people indulged in the worship of foreign gods. As a result, Israel suffered cruel defeats from its enemies who had stripped it of the ark of the Lord, a symbol of favor and power.

Then came this day, where, tired of his deplorable condition, Israel was challenged by the voice of repentance. The people in a singular momentum destroyed their idols and confessed the God of salvation. The Philistines rose again and went on the assault. It was a dazzling victory of the reconciled people over the enemy forces. In addition there was an extraordinary season of divine restoration.

Ebenezer is an altar: a place of sacrifice, a place of dedication to the glory of the Savior, the messiah. It is a unique forum of songs, tears, prayers, sighs, silences. Brought back to our context, Ebenezer is a place of recollection, a moment of restitution of the recognition due to Jesus, the rock of our salvation.

We can find out that Ebenezer is located between Mizpah and Shen. Mizpah means, the watchtower, the place from which "... the LORD watches over you and me" (Genesis 31:49). It is also the place of repentance, surrender to one's own ways for a sincere return to the God of truth. On the other hand, Shen designates rather, the rock of danger, the tooth of ferocity.

Ebenezer is more than just a place of remembrance, it is both the expression of consciousness and memory of salvation: It is a strong confession: a deep claim. It is the confession of glorious freedom from the threat of the wicked. It is the claim of the prodigious liberation by the hand of divine rescue.

An exercise for this week:

Remember the place you were retrieved by the grace of salvation. Come back to these difficult moments of your journey where you have experienced the exceptional rescue of the loving-kind God. Remember the love of God and bless the King of kings