Focus: My Memorial Stone

Text: 1Sam.7:12

"Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."

The end of every year always gives us an opportunity for reflection and meditation. It is a moment to take our memory back to seeing how God had faithfully led us and graciously provided and protected us from the start to the end of the year. Soren Kierkegaard aptly said that life is understood backward, but it can only be lived forward. We often see the sense God has made out of lives when we go down memory lane.

Memory is a kind of storage device or facility. We call mentally looking back going memory lane. Whoever loves being in a state of memory loss? It is a terrible disease.

Between Mizpeh and Shen Samuel set up a stone on a certain spot, and calls it, Ebenezer, for he says to the people, "Thus far has the Lord helped us!" God has been our Helper all the way.

We are right at the threshold of a brand new year. A year we know nothing about. A year like no other. A year we are unacquainted with. And just before we step our feet into that year we need to raise up a stone like Samuel did - a stone that will help us reflect or go back memory lane and recapture those great moments when the Lord manifested His hand upon us. Moments when the Lord helped us surmount obstacles and delivered us from our troubles. God has been our Ebenezer year in and year out. Let's raise up our stones and take our minds back to all that God has done for us!

Where is your own Mizpeh and Shen? Mizpeh means watchtower or a beacon, and Shen signifies Craig or sharp-pointed rock. In some of the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are constantly instructed to watch and pray. 

Living in our kind of world requires a high level of spiritual vigilance, supernatural surveillance and moral intelligence.

In our Mizpeh we will discover a whole lot of spiritual history. Let us check out a few. The Scripture says, "And the LORD DELIVERED them into the hand of Israel, who SMOTE them, and CHASED them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephothmaim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they SMOTE them, UNTIL THEY LEFT THEM NONE REMAINING" (Josh.11:8). This occurred during Joshua's era. The Lord handed over to His people their enemies and they were smitten and completely decimated. Mizpeh was for God's people a place of total triumph.

The Scripture says, "And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will PRAY for you unto the LORD" (1Sam.7:5). Mizpeh is the place where Samuel prayed for the people.

In the following verse the Scripture says, "And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and DREW water, and POURED it out before the LORD, and FASTED on that day, and said there, We have SINNED against the LORD. And Samuel JUDGED the children of Israel in Mizpeh" (1Sam.7:6). Mizpeh is the place where Samuel sat on the throne and decided their cases, making sure that everyone had a fair share of justice. Mizpeh is the place where Israel acknowledged their sins and repented of them.

In verse 11, we read, "And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and PURSUED the Philistines, and SMOTE them, until they came under Bethcar" (1Sam.7:11). War broke out between Israel and the Philistines, and we are told how God's people triumphed over the enemy. God's people pursued and smote them. The enemy turned tail and ran away. One point to note is that Israel pursued his enemy to the place called Bethcar, which means the house of pasture. 

As you fight to take the enemy out, your Lord and Shepherd will certainly bring you into His pasture or grazing land. He is the supplier of our need.

In the book of Chronicles we read, "And when Judah came toward the WATCH TOWER in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were DEAD BODIES fallen to the earth, and NONE ESCAPED" (2Chron.20:24). The words "watch tower" in Hebrew are Mizpeh. In the place called Mizpeh they found their enemies dead. No one escaped.

"Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered WINE and SUMMER FRUITS VERY MUCH" (Jer.40:12). 

In your Mizpeh you will very much gather your wine and summer fruits. In your Mizpeh you have a very rich spiritual history. Look back and see all the Lord has done for you! See how far the Lord has helped you! See how far He has brought you! See the role grace has played in your life! Between your Beacon and your Craig there is need for you to raise a stone. You are a true reflection of the reality of Ebenezer. Up to this point God has been so good, and going forward from here onwards, God will ever-increasingly keep being good to His own people. Look for your memorial stone and set it up!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter