God's Help in the Past

I Samuel 7.12

Mizpah = watchtower
Ebenezer =stone of help

The LORD has helped us to this point.
All of us can truthfully say that this morning. Often times we forget it. We are faced with a problem or a battle and we lose our reference point to the past. We are not to live in the past but certainly we are to learn lessons from it.

There have times in all of our lives where the LORD came through for us, in ways that we did not expect.
This was certainly true in this incident recorded here in I Samuel. The LORD thundered from heaven. The Israelites heard it and the Philistines went into panic. Then the Israelites routed them. Supernaturally God had delivered them. We all have had unexplainable ways that the LORD has come to us. Maybe in thunder, perhaps in the gentle breeze of His Spirit or like a rushing mighty wind, even in a dream.

Quiet Reflection upon the Word of God and the faithfulness of God brings us into a confidence in God's Presence and Promises for the future.

We need to be still and know He is God. Part of that is in the historic perspective. Looking back. Looking at the monuments either literally or in our minds. We need to recall the mighty works of God in our lives. This church building is an example of that. This church body is too.

Israel failed at this point of recalling and remembering. Let's not make the same mistake.
Let's not only learn from past failures but let's also keep in mind the times when the LORD stood by us and helped us.

Paul, the apostle did that.
2 Timothy 4:16-18 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 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. Amen.

We know that...

1. He has been with us.
Out of Egypt
Into the Promised Land

Apply that to your life.
Isaiah 51:1-2 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousnessand who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father,and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many."

Abraham's situation appeared hopeless. He became a great nation. The Middle East are his descendants.
Israel's odds were not in their favor. They were a nation being held in slavery in a land not their own, while the land that was theirs was inhabited by fortified cities.
Things have been against us.
Personal tragedies.
Mountains we have faced: health problems, losses, all kinds of challenges. None without ultimately realizing that the LORD God has been with us in them, in the fire and in the floods, over or around the mountain or tunneling through it.

2. He Never Has failed us.
Joshua 21:43-45 So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
Out of Egypt, across the Sinai and into possess the Promised Land.

Recall the times the LORD has rescued you, come to your aid.
Do this often!


It is good to see His Promises and how they applied in our history.
A little page from our history here in the United States:
"On May 17, 1776, Americans observed another day of 'fasting, humiliation and prayer' officially called by the Continental Congress. It too passed Congress unanimously on a motion introduced by New Jersey Delegate William Livingston, a prominent lawyer and political leader who had once served as a missionary to the Mohawk Indians. congress again summoned the people to prayer and fasting by placing public notices in the newspapers. As before, Congress ordered no one to participate, but it recommended that Americans everywhere beseech God for His protection 'through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ.'"

It is good to read through the promises of God. We see how He has been faithful to all of them in our lives. It is good to see His Promises and how they applied in our personal history, our journey.
Psalm 16, 27
Psalm 16:6, 8 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;surely I have a delightful inheritance. I keep my eyes always on the Lord.With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14 The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? One thing I ask from the Lord,this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

It is good to review our lives from time to time. We can often trace God's Hand and when we cannot we have always trusted His heart, His love for us.

3.He will be with us until the end.

Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

Let's talk about the end. The end of days, the end of our days
Strength for today
Bright Hope for tomorrow

He will never forsake us.
He will never leave us.
He will be with us always, right up the end of the age!

O God Our Help in Ages Past