Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us
Key Scripture: 1 Samuel 7:12
Key Thought: Some of God’s mercies we can remember and name. Others may remain hidden from our understanding until we see Him face to face.
Reading Time: Approximately 6 minutes
Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us
There is a beautiful moment in the life of Samuel when he takes a stone, places it between Mizpah and Shen, and gives it a name.
Ebenezer.
A stone of help.
And with that simple act, Samuel declares:
“Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12, KJV)
But this stone was not raised after an easy journey.
Israel had spent years wandering from God. They had allowed other gods to occupy the place in their hearts that belonged to Him alone. And for twenty years, the people lived under the shadow of their spiritual decline.
Yet God had not forgotten them.
Samuel remained among them, faithfully ministering, teaching and calling them back to the Lord.
And eventually, something changed.
The Lord Our God
When the Philistines advanced against Israel, the people were terrified.
But listen carefully to their words:
“Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us.” (1 Samuel 7:8, KJV)
Our God.
Not Samuel’s God.
Not the God their ancestors once worshipped.
Our God.
Before the Lord had given them victory, before their enemies had been defeated, something had already happened in their hearts.
They had returned to Him.
And perhaps that was the greatest victory of all.
Their circumstances had not yet changed, but their relationship with God had.
Samuel prayed for them, and the Lord intervened.
Then Samuel raised his stone.
Not to commemorate Israel’s strength, but to remember God’s faithfulness.
The God Who Preserves Our Souls
Psalm 121:7–8 gives us another beautiful picture of God’s care:
“The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
We must be careful not to stop reading after the words, “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil.”
If we do, we might conclude that walking with God means nothing painful will ever happen to us.
But Scripture tells a different story.
Joseph was betrayed.
Job suffered unimaginable losses.
Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den.
And Jesus Himself endured the cross.
God’s people are not promised freedom from every sorrow.
Yet the psalmist reminds us that God’s preserving care reaches deeper than our circumstances.
“He shall preserve thy soul.”
Sometimes God delivers us from the storm.
Sometimes He sustains us through it.
And sometimes, looking back over a painful season, we recognise that although evil wounded us, God did not allow it to have the final word over our hearts.
We may have been hurt, but we did not have to become like those who hurt us.
We may have been shaken, but we were not abandoned.
And sometimes our Ebenezer is simply this:
Lord, I am still here, and I can see that You have held me.
The Stones We Cannot Name
But there is another thought.
What about the moments when God may have protected us, and we never knew?
The dangers we never encountered.
The unseen mercies.
The quiet ways He may have sustained us when we did not even realise how desperately we needed His care.
How many things might we discover one day, when we see Him face to face?
Paul reminds us:
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV)
We only see in part.
And so, in our Ebenezer project, there will be little stones among the larger ones.
We will paint them beautifully.
But we will leave them without names.
Not because they have no stories.
But because we do not yet know their stories.
They will represent the mercies beyond our understanding, the protection we may never have recognised, and the mystery of God’s faithful care.
We cannot claim to know every unseen intervention. But we can trust the character of the God who sees what we cannot.
And perhaps one day, in His presence, we will understand more fully.
Becoming a Living Ebenezer
Samuel’s stone stood as a reminder of God’s help.
But Samuel’s life was also a testimony.
From childhood, he had learned to listen for God’s voice. He grew up surrounded by spiritual failure, yet remained faithful to his calling.
He prayed for the people.
He taught them.
He called them back to God.
And even when they disappointed him, he continued to intercede.
He once declared:
“God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” (1 Samuel 12:23, KJV)
What a remarkable life.
Samuel did not simply speak to people about God. He brought people before God.
His public ministry grew out of his private relationship with the Lord.
And that is an invitation for us too.
To pray before we speak.
To seek God’s heart before we confront another person’s failures.
To reflect His character before we try to explain it.
To share His faithfulness, not because He needs us to accomplish what He cannot do, but because remembering and sharing His goodness also strengthens our own relationship with Him.
Perhaps we are called not only to raise stones of remembrance, but to become living testimonies of the One who has helped us.
Until We See Him Face to Face
One day, we may no longer need our little stones.
We will stand in the presence of the One who has known every step of our journey.
The questions that remain unanswered now will be placed in the light of His perfect wisdom.
Until then, we remember what we know.
We trust Him with what we do not know.
And we continue walking with the One who has never ceased to be faithful.
Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
And by His grace, we will continue trusting Him.
A Prayer of Remembrance
Father,
Thank You for the mercies I remember and for the mercies I may never have recognised.
Thank You for the times You delivered me from danger, and for the times You sustained me through suffering.
Thank You for preserving my soul when circumstances threatened to overwhelm me.
Teach me to be faithful like Samuel.
Help me to bring others before You in prayer before I speak to them about You.
Let my life reflect Your character, and let my testimony point others towards Jesus.
And when I cannot understand what You are doing, remind me of what I already know about Your love.
Until the day when I see You face to face, help me to trust You with the stories I cannot yet tell.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Continue the Journey
Some stones carry the names of prayers answered, burdens lifted, and moments when we clearly recognised God’s hand.
Others remain unnamed, not because God was absent, but because we cannot yet see all that He has done.
Explore the Bible Study: My Ebenezer – A Stone of help – a Life of Intercession
Discover the biblical meaning of Ebenezer, Samuel’s stone of remembrance, and the invitation to remember God’s faithfulness, even when we see only in part.
Join the Project: My Ebenezer – Stones of Remembrance
Create your own stones of remembrance. Paint the moments when you recognised God’s presence, and leave a few stones unnamed for the mercies and protections you may only understand one day.
Perhaps one day, when we see Him face to face, we will finally know the stories behind those unnamed stones.
Grace Encounters
Encounter God through His Word.
My Ebenezer: Faith Remembered. Faith Shared. Faith Lived.
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