THUS FAR HAS THE LORD HELPED US (EBENEZER)
September 24, 2006 - PENTECOST 16 - 1 Samuel 7:5-12
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Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Help! Help! Maybe we have cried out those words when we have fallen down and needed help getting back up or when we come to the house with an armload of groceries and we need the door opened. Maybe we needed to call out "Help! Help!" looking for someone to come and help us, to get out of present trouble. Maybe on a bad day we had to cry out "Help! Help!" a couple of times. Some days are like that. Very often we cry out "Help! Help!" when we are looking for some quick solution to a minor problem. We may be looking for an immediate relief from something that is a small distress to us at the time. This morning we are reminded of the fact that you and I can cry "Help! Help!" not just for small physical distresses and the troubles that beset us from time to time, but also for everything. The Lord our God is our help.
Today, in the words of our text, we have a very vivid reminder of our God’s willingness to help us. We have a very vivid reminder of our God’s ability to help us, and a very vivid reminder of our God’s power to help us. We can cry out "Help! Help!" We are reminded of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, when he says: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). These are the words of our God who says, "I will reach down with my righteous right hand and I will help you." Isaiah re-echoes the words of Samuel: "Thus far has the Lord helped us (Ebenezer)." Ebenezer means help, the stone of help, the rock of our salvation. Our theme is in the last words of our text:
"THUS FAR HAS THE LORD HELPED US". Today these words of God in Samuel remind us:
I. We are completely helpless, and:
II. Our God saves us completely.
I. WE ARE COMPLETELY HELPLESS
A little background for our text: The children of Israel in their history sometimes fell from God’s grace. They disobeyed. They went into the deep valley of disobedience whenever they turned away from God. Here we are coming to the bottom of their helplessness and hopelessness. In chapters 5 and 6 we find the Ark of the Covenant is returned to the children of Israel. Chapter 7 begins by saying for twenty years the children of Israel were saddened because the Lord was not with them. For twenty years they sought the Lord. Finally Samuel comes and asks them, "Are you really looking for the Lord? Then give up your false idols and your false gods." For twenty years they wanted the Lord to help them, but for twenty years or even longer they worshipped false gods and not the true God. Samuel told them to give up these false gods and idols. Our text begins in verse 5: "Then Samuel said, ’Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you.’" Mizpah was a place north of Jerusalem. He wanted them to gather there that he might pray on their behalf for them. Did they truly want the Lord on their side? Did they truly want to give up the false gods they had been following? They really did, didn’t they?
Listen to the next words: "When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted." So they gathered there. They drew water and poured it out. This was unheard of. Water was a very precious commodity. When they drew water, it was used for drinking or cooking or cleaning. Instead they drew it and poured it out saying to the Lord: "We are pouring out our unworthiness. We have come here to Mizpah in utter helplessness." Then it says they fasted. They went without eating to show that they were serious.
If the casual reader of Scripture did not notice that, listen to what Samuel adds, "and there they confessed, ’We have sinned against the LORD.’" They not only were going to say this with their words and their mouths confessing that they had sinned against the Lord; but they had shown by their actions by pouring out the water symbolizing their helplessness, their humility before God. The Israelites said, "We have sinned against the Lord." They were helpless -- completely. Of course, they had finally learned that in the past two decades their false gods didn’t help them at all. They learned that no matter how often they came and brought sacrifices to Baal or worshipped the false god Ashtoreth, gods of the day, nothing happened. For their false gods were completely helpless.
As if that were not enough, what happens next? The Lord was going to remind them to never forget their helplessness. Verse 7: "When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them." The Philistines realized that here was an opportunity. They could wipe out the Israelites. They were not there with weapons, but the Israelites had come there to worship God. The Philistines were going to gather against them. Now we are told: "And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines." They realized they were completely helpless, not just spiritually but physically. Their strength, their help and their deliverance were going to come only from the Lord. Only when they got to the bottom of this valley of disobedience, this valley of turning away from God, then Israel realized there was only One who could help them.
The Israelites realized their complete helplessness, realizing that they could not help themselves. But God would, could and did. Verse 8: "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.’" They could not save themselves, could they? They could not help themselves, could they? That is complete helplessness.
Left on our own, you and I have the same complete helplessness. We are born into this world as cute and cuddly innocent looking babies, but we are born into this world with a strike against us. God says we are born into this world as enemies of the cross of Christ. We are born into this world with a sinful nature. From the moment that we were conceived as it says in the Psalms, we start life as sinners with an inherited, inborn, sinful nature. It is going to be a struggle and a battle for our entire life. Thankfully, by God’s grace he has worked faith in our hearts. By God’s grace he has created in us the new man to fight and battle and defeat our sinful nature. Still, it is a struggle. The apostle Paul says: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:18,19). Paul knew that. We know that. Our good intentions are sometimes just that--good intentions. They start and stop there and are not carried out. There is evil we don’t want to do. Satan comes and he knows how to push the button so that we do the evil that we ought not to do. On our own, with our sinful nature we are helpless, completely.
Realizing and admitting this helplessness, of course, is a big, big problem in our day and age, isn’t it? In our society mankind is taught to take care of himself, to be independent. Mankind is taught to solve his own problems and trust in his knowledge and wisdom. There are all kinds of programs out there that talk about a higher power. Self-help and multi-step programs put God in a generic term when they talk about their higher power. The problem in our day and age and our society is people do not want to be completely helpless. They don’t look at what is the root-cause of man’s helplessness, sin. Sin is not an old-fashioned, out-of-date word, but it is the root-cause of all problems, troubles, and helplessness today. Yet, what has happened? Sin is explained away--everybody is doing it. Sin is excused--it is just a small sin. Sin is denied--it is called a disease or a sickness. The reality is sin is still sin. Scripture clearly says: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
Yes, all too often like Israel we chase after false gods. We worship things of this world that we can see, feel and touch. We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We can’t help ourselves and save ourselves. Again, society says, "I don’t sin that much. God will let me into heaven. I help my neighbor, so God will let me into heaven. I am not that bad. I live in Norton proper; I don’t live in the correctional facility east of town. So I am not as bad as they are." But we can’t save ourselves by our own merits or worthiness. We can’t live a good enough life to get into heaven. We simply cannot pay the price that all of sins, evil, and wickedness require. Listen to the Psalm writer: "No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him--the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough" (Psalm 48:7,8). Notice this is in the Old Testament already.
We are completely helpless. We also realize we can call "Help! Help!" and we cry out "Ebenezer" (Thus far the Lord has helped us). Even in the depth of our complete and utter helplessness, it is the Lord our God who delivers completely.
II. OUR LORD DELIVERS COMPLETELY
We turn back to where we left the children of Israel. They are at Mizpah. They repented. They poured out their sins and their souls before the Lord. Now the Philistines, their enemies, are going to come and wipe them out. They stand trembling and terrified in their helplessness. They cry out to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out for us. Don’t stop praying for us. We need the Lord’s help." It had taken a long time for the Lord to get the attention of the people of Israel. They were terrified. What is the reaction of Samuel who always followed the Lord, who always proclaimed God’s message? We are told in verse 9: "Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf." Samuel wasn’t trembling or terrified. He took a young lamb and offered it as an offering to the Lord. The original says, "A complete offering for all of Israel." He prays to the Lord and we are told very simply, "And the Lord answered him." But as we heard this text we didn’t hear any words of the Lord, did we? We didn’t hear the Lord’s answer. Instead we saw the Lord’s answer. "While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle." First, the Israelites see the Philistines coming from a distance and they ask Samuel, "Don’t stop crying out for us." Samuel makes an offering and as he makes the offering, the Philistines are getting closer and closer. He offers up the suckling lamb and the Lord answered. His answer: "But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines." (The original says, "And there was a great voice, the Lord’s voice). Then we are told: "And threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites." The Philistines were scared and terrified. The Israelites were no longer scared and terrified, but the Philistines were. This great army on the earth was scared and terrified by a noise. The Lord with a noise defeated the enemies of God’s people.
Not only does the Lord defeat the enemies with this noise and the thunder, the noise of his voice, but this thunder of the Lord also gives his people courage. "The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car." Israel chased the Philistines and put them to death. Sometimes people today would say, "How unfair, how cruel that there were many put to death in the name of God." (We will talk more about that in Bible study in the book of Joshua following our service.) The Philistines do not win, but Israel does.
Verse 12: "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen (between where they were meeting and the mountain cliffs). He named it Ebenezer, saying, ’Thus far has the LORD helped us.’" This was for the children of Israel lest they forget, "Thus far has the Lord helped us. Thus far he has turned away our enemies." Thus far! Ebenezer! All the names in the Old Testament mean a lot. Ebenezer--thus far has the Lord helped us. A stone of help--Ebenezer.
Today, the Lord is our Stone of help, our Rock of salvation. There are many things that can and may frighten us in this world, but there is also one God who is our Ebenezer, our Stone of help. No matter what happens in this life, no matter how topsy-turvy and opposed to God this world may seem, God takes care of his people for their good. No matter that we are told the plans of wiping out ten million people within a month, the terrorists’ plans, God is with us. What does the Lord say? We turn to the end of Deuteronomy (which we finished in Bible study), to see the Israelites ready to inherit the Promised Land. They were going into the Promised Land after forty years of wandering to get there. This was because they were scared of their enemies. What does the Lord say? He says: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6). The children of Israel faced and would face great enemies, but the Lord said, "God will take care of you." To you and me, the Lord says, "The Lord will take care of us."
Our Lord will take care of us, not just a little bit. The Lord’s concern for us is not just to take us through this life. Our Lord has provided to each and every one of us eternity, with the blessings of heaven, because we are helpless completely. We can’t save ourselves. Until we realize that we are completely helpless, we don’t realize the complete help and deliverance of the Lord our God. Listen to Hebrews: "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25). The Lord Jesus, our Savior, is at God’s right hand pleading our case before him. We don’t deserve heaven, but Jesus our Savior sits at God’s right hand and says, "But I died for their sins." We can’t buy our way to heaven, but the Lord our Savior says to his Father, "My blood has paid the price." We can’t live good enough lives to get into heaven, but the Lord our Savior tells his Father, "But I lived the perfect life. I kept every command in thought, word and deed." He saves us completely from the power of sin, from our own sinful flesh or nature, and from that last enemy to be destroyed which is death itself.
We can and do face the future with courage and confidence and strength. Of course, from time to time Satan tries to chip away at our courage, confidence and strength. Our own sinful nature causes doubts to arise. The world makes fun of our strong Christian faith. But the Lord says he defeated our enemies: sin, death and even the devil. The Lord reminds us that with boldness, no matter what is going to happen today or tomorrow, eternity is guaranteed for each and every one of us. The apostle Paul knew the life he led was soon coming to an end. Paul may have thought of Samuel here and says that he was ready to be poured out as an offering. He knew the end was close. Was he terrified and frightened? Paul’s words were: "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever" (2 Timothy 4:18). Paul fittingly also describes our lives. To God be glory forever and ever. Thus far the Lord has helped us.
As we look at our lives and as we look at these examples, we realize we have come to confess and whole-heartedly believe the very fact and simple truth that the Lord has helped his people from the very beginning. The Lord helps us, his people today, and the Lord will continue to help us into eternity. Thus far has the Lord helped us. Ebenezer! We could cry out "Help! Help!" For if we cry out "Ebenezer!, we might not get many people to respond. Whenever we cry out, "Help! Help," may we always remember Ebenezer: our true Stone of help, the Lord of our salvation. May we remember that we are completely helpless to save ourselves, but it is also the Lord our Stone who saves us completely. The Lord is our Ebenezer. Our God is our Helper. Paul writes we do not even think of all the things how the Lord helps us. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" (Ephesians 3:20,21).
We agree. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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Pentecost 16 readings: ISAIAH 35:4-7; JAMES 1:17-27; MARK 7:31-37
