When I was in seminary, I took a class on worship leadership. The professor wanted to show us the importance of using words that our audience understands. He asked us about the great hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” In that song, there’s the word “Ebenezer.”
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer:
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
He asked us, “Do you know what Ebenezer means?” No one, myself included, raised their hand to answer. Today’s passage from Joshua 4 will give us the answer to the question.
God told Joshua to choose 12 men from the people. Each man was to take a stone from the middle of the Jordan. They were to carry these stones and place them where they would spend the night.
The name of the stones that memorialized the crossing of the Jordan River was “Ebenezer.”
Just like the hymn by Robert Robinson says, they reached the promised land safely with the Lord’s help. We can reflect on Joshua’s story and Robinson’s song, remembering how God has guided us through life’s challenges to a place of peace through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
Telling the Story
The memorial stones in Gilgal were placed to tell a story.
“When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’
For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over,
So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Joshua 4:21b-24).
A few years ago, I visited a lady in the hospital. She had been on a ventilator for about three months. Her mother was my friend, so I visited once a week for her sake.
One day, I noticed she was no longer on the ventilator. She could barely speak, so I bent over to hear her whisper, Come back, I have something to tell you. The medical staff needed to work with her, so I took a break and returned later.
When I came back, she shared her story. She said that one night, she had a dream of being on a street corner where Jesus sat beside her. He put his arm around her and whispered, “You’re going to get better.”
Not only did she get better, but she also left the hospital soon after and enjoyed a healthy and joyful life.
I have a mental Rolodex of stories I’ve gathered over more than 50 years of serving the Lord. Each story is like Joshua’s pile of rocks, memorializing God’s work with the Israelites.
We can truly say that we raise our message of praise for all to see, so people know there is one God. He has come to us through his son, Jesus Christ, to love us and give us the best life possible.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 