Here I Lay My Ebenezer

As many of you know, I met David in Matamoros, Mexico, where we worked together as part of a team of eight young Americans with a great family in Mexico in their ministry there. While working alongside him, I noticed that David's Bible's margins were often marked with dates in the margins next to verses or chapters. The Bible is "living and active," according to Hebrews 4:12; when reading through chapters or verses, the Spirit of God may use the words powerfully to alter the pattern of our lives in ways both great and small. In David's case, when he would encounter such experiences, he would write the date in the margin as a reminder and encouragement to himself in the future - in essence, laying an Ebenezer.

Throughout the history of the Christian faith and back into Judaism, there is a tradition of marking out moments where God has worked or made himself known to his people. Probably the most well known is that of the Ebenezer stone. The nation of Israel was approaching battle with the Philistines, a mighty neighboring nation; the Israelites and the prophet Samuel cried out to the LORD, and 1 Samuel 7:10 reads, "...that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites." In verse 12, to commemorate this moment, "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."

I find great value in documenting our spiritual history with "Ebenezers," even if they are just dates in the margins and not giant stones. Having been inspired by David's habit, I, too, began marking out key moments, and now I find myself greatly encouraged to be reading along and reminded of God's work in my life through certain passages. For example, when reading in Isaiah, I am reminded that in November 2003 (while in Mexico) God increasingly drew my attention to Isaiah 58, in which He calls His people to meet the needs of some the most vulnerable in society- the hungry, the homeless, the oppressed. Through this and other verses, my path was shaped so that in 2007 I decided to not pursue my previous career plans and instead to divert to social work.

Again, in 2004 when things worked out quickly and beautifully so that David and I could be married in August, I marked Psalm 16:5-6...The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for mein pleasant places; indeed, I have a beatuiful inheritance." Several times the Spirit of God has drawn me to verses like Psalm 4: 4 "Be angry and do not sin" to direct my immediate actions (or point out that the actions I chose were wide of the target, to say the least), or I have marked passages like 1 Corinthians 2:11-16, where I read and understood something new and wonderful. And this past year (and the one before as well, truthfully), I have been deeply attracted to the truths of Proverbs, though it took the full two years- at least- to begin to really grasp the full implications for my life of Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."

The point of all this? The point is...it's my birthday! While that might not be the obvious conclusion to draw from the paragraphs above, it is why I've written it all. In recent years I have found birthdays, as well as other major occasions, to be perfect opportunities to seek direction from the LORD for the coming year. I love reading what God has done in the past, and something about a birthday causes people, myself included, to become reflective about what has been and possibly considerate of what may become. This week I have hit on a verse that resonated in such a way as to make it inevitable that I'll be returning to it over and over in the coming days, whether it be for the whole of my 26th year or not.

"I therefore...urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-3). I like the calling to walk in a worthy manner, as it implies walking with purpose and knowing to what we have been called. The rest of the verse- humility, gentleness, patience... I will just say, it will be a learning year, and very likely, a learning lifetime. In the words of Robert Robinson: "here I lay my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I come." (From the 1758 hymn, Come Thou Fount).