May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let us turn to the first book
of Samuel, the seventh chapter, and we'll read the twelfth verse. The first book of Samuel, the
seventh chapter, and the twelfth verse. Then Samuel took a stone and
set it between Mizpah and Shem, and called the name of it Ebenezer,
saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Well, this is a very simple statement,
of course, which we read of in this book of Samuel. And of course, when Samuel actually
did this, it was very relevant and very important to the Israelites
at that time because they had been blessed with a wonderful
deliverance. The Lord had indeed helped them. And we read the fourth chapter
in this same book because in that fourth chapter it gives
the account of when the ark was taken, captured by the Philistines,
when the Israelites had foolishly taken the Ark and taken it into
battle. And, well, the Lord permitted
it to be taken. And we know, of course, that
it remained away from Shiloh for many years. But then we realised
that that place, where that was done, was the same place as we
read of here in this seventh chapter. And so after many years,
the Lord granted a wonderful deliverance in that same place
referred to in both places as Ebenezer. So it was surely right
and good and just that Samuel should erect this stone in this
place, which would be a constant reminder to Israel of God's goodness
and of God's mercy in helping them to gain that victory. They again, of course, turn their
back upon God, disobeyed God, not followed his directions,
but we see the wonderful mercy of God. And now tonight, as we
think of this well-known word, I'm sure it's known by all of
us, what Ebenezer says, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Of course, the word hitherto
really means until now. The reality is that all of us
would have to say that hitherto or until now, God has helped
us. Look in our lives, our natural
lives, and our spiritual lives. What a good thing it is to know
that God is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God and
God has indeed helped us. Perhaps we have those occasions
in our life when we haven't prayed and God hasn't helped us. I remember
when I was a youngster at school and we, in those days we had
an 11 plus exam It was called a scholarship and we had to pass
that exam to go to a grammar school. There were only grammar
schools and secondary modern schools. And when I took that
exam, I failed that exam and it was a great blow to pride. But I remembered that in actual
fact I hadn't prayed about it. I'd just taken the exam and relied
on my own ability. and the Lord allowed me to fail
well it was it was good really and I did because then a couple
of years later again in those days we could take an exam which
we referred to as the 13 plus and that gave us an opportunity
to go to a technical college and I remember on that occasion
taking that exam And this time praying earnestly that God would
help me. Well, he did help me. And I did
pass that exam. And I can say that to God's honour
and glory. Well, we've got a lot of young
people here today. And we all need God's help in
our daily life. We all need God's help. in our
exams and no matter what they are always remember to pray to
God for help and if God does help and you are successful then
not to forget to give thanks to God for the help that is granted
again it's very easy God hears and answers prayer and we forget
to thank God. So, as we look back in our lives,
I hope you have in your lives many occasions when you have
realised that God has been your helper. Because it doesn't of
course stop in our school life or our college life. It goes
on throughout our life. And there are many, many occasions
when we need God to help us. And what a blessing then, if
we do commit our way unto the Lord. And we can then come and
say, with Samuel, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Having obtained
help of God, says the Apostle Paul, I continue unto this day. And that's good, you know, if
that's our testimony. Now we can join hands with the
Apostle and agree with what he said and bless God that it was
recorded and bless God therefore that in our lives we can also
thank God. Well we have many natural things
but it's a wonderful blessing of course if God has helped us
to call upon his name with regard to the salvation of our soul. Because the reality is that is
more important than the things in our natural life. Now I know
when we're young we tend to think that our natural life is so important,
and it is, but let us remember our spiritual life is far more
important. And you may say, well, why do
you say that? Well, it's very simple, isn't
it? Our natural life will only last for a few years. Our spiritual
life never ends. So how important it is that God
helps us to seek his face, helps us to pray unto him, that he
will come and bless our soul, helps us to seek his face, that
he will come and reveal himself unto us as he does not unto the
world, reveals himself to us as our great and glorious Saviour. You see, natural things are wonderful
when the Lord hears and answers prayer. But if the Lord sees
fit not to answer the prayer, in actual fact, it won't matter
eternally. But it will matter with regard
to our souls if God does not hear and answer
our prayer. So may that be a real urgency
in each of our lives that we may know that God does help us
to call upon his name because if he does, if he does, the reality
is that you and I will then pray in faith because God gives us
that faith to believe that we do come to a God who hears and
answers prayer. And we can be sure that if God
gives us faith to come in that right way, that he will hear
us and he will answer our prayers. So here we have this very simple
statement, don't we? Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. Well, I wonder if you could say
tonight, yes, that's true. God has helped me. He's helped
me in natural things, and he's helped me to seek his face in
spiritual things. And what a blessing that is.
Well, here in the Word of God is the testimony. There are many
occasions in the Word of God where we have the evidence that
God is the helper of his people. We know many times David, King
David, needed God's help. And many times, God heard his
prayer and helped him. He didn't ignore David. And David wasn't a wonderful
example in his life all the time, was he? Indeed, if you go through
the Word of God, you'll find that most of the saints of God
have faults, some big faults, and that's encouraging for us.
As we have faults, to think that nonetheless, God hears and answers
prayer. And nonetheless, God is indeed
the helper. Well, again, the Apostle Paul,
so many times in his life realized and thank God that he was indeed
his helper. And when he wrote the epistle
to the Hebrews, right in the last chapter there's a wonderful
statement that the Apostle makes and he says this and again I
think this is really very lovely really he says let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content in such things as you
have for he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so
that we may boldly say boldly say what? The Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. Well, it's a good thing, isn't
it? If by God's grace, we can boldly confess and acknowledge
that God has been our helper. And if God has been our helper,
we can believe he will be our helper. and help us safely through
life. It's something we don't fail
to need every day. The help of God. The help of
God in so many ways. The help of God to pray. The help of God to read his word. The help of God to think right
things. We need God's help really. At
all times, in reality, we can't do without it. And therefore,
with a mercy, if we can hear such words as this, and it is
interesting that the Holy Spirit directed the Apostle to write
in such terms, so that we may boldly say, that means we shouldn't
be afraid, we shouldn't be embarrassed, we should be very thankful to
be able to say, to testify that God has helped us. Often you
say we perhaps pray and we might receive help. We don't say anything. We're silent. Now here the apostle
desired the honor and glory of God. And if you and I are able
to boldly testify of God's help, what does he do? it brings honour
and glory to God, because what we're saying, it's not us, it's
God who has been our helper. And what wonderful truth it is. And so to be able to say, the
Lord is my helper, and then this confidence that the apostle had,
and will not fear what man shall do unto me. The Lord may have
been your helper to speak about the things of God, perhaps in
your school days, perhaps in your college days, perhaps at
work. And it's so easy, you know, to
be embarrassed and fearful and not say the things which God
has done. Well, it's a great thing, isn't
it, when God takes away the fear of man, all the fear of boys
or girls. You know, the Word of God tells
us, that the fear of man bringeth a snare. What that means is,
fearing what man will say stops us boldly saying, the Lord is
my helper. It's not easy, is it? We live
in a difficult world. We live in an atheistic world.
But my friends, the Word of God tells us so gloriously, my witnesses,
you and me, in this world. We should therefore not be afraid
to testify of what God has helped us and to have the evidence and
to bring honour and glory to his name. Well, we should be
encouraged then, shouldn't we? The Apostle Paul spoke, as we
know, so faithfully in so many difficult situations. Sometimes
when he was alone, I often think of that occasion in the 17th
of Acts. There he was in Athens, alone. Appears to be no other
believers there. That vast town, it was a big
town in those days, it's much bigger now. And yet you see,
what did he do? Did he hide in a corner? Did
he stay in a room he'd hired? Not at all. He went out in the
marketplace every day to declare the truth of God. Well, the Lord
has graciously given us these witnesses, these evidences in
the Word of God for our encouragement and as direction, because the
things in the world haven't changed. We might think, oh, well, they're
much easier in those days. Well, they certainly weren't
easier, were they? Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. David said in the 54th Psalm,
he said this. Again, a wonderful testimony.
Behold. What does that mean? It means
take notice. Take notice. I'm saying this
so that you might notice it. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. Behold, God is my helper. He wasn't speaking to himself.
He was speaking for the honour and glory of his God. What a
good thing it is when you and I can come to that situation
and realise that God is our helper. He tells us in another case,
in the 46th Psalm, he tells us the first verse. It's well known.
I hope you all know it. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Now, you and I should realise,
and I hope you realise, that we are born in this world, a
world of trouble. And we should never expect to
go through life without trouble. Word of God, the Lord speaks
about it as tribulation. And here he says very clearly,
the Lord is a very present help in trouble. Well, again, I wonder
whether you and I can confirm that to be true. God is our helper. He has been our helper in time
of trouble. He may be our helper now in time
of trouble. The Lord goes with us. The Lord
is by us. He doesn't leave his people.
He doesn't forget them. Our God, my friends, never sleeps.
Our God is always alert. He knows every detail of our
lives, every thought. That should be a wonderful comfort
to us, to realize He is a merciful God. And the psalmist goes on
to say, therefore will not be fear. That's a great statement,
isn't it? We are fearful, aren't we? We
fear the future, don't we? But David wasn't any different.
Therefore will not we fear because he had a humble confidence that
God was his helper. It's a great blessing, you know,
when you and I are able to come and to cast all our care upon
our God, realizing that he is our helper. And therefore this
word is so True, hitherto, hath the Lord helped us. And as the
hymn writer said, he who has helped me hitherto, he had that
confidence to be able to say, will help me all my journey through. The Lord will never forsake his
people. The Lord will never leave us.
What a blessing that is. And hopefully what a wonderful
comfort it is to realise how good and kind and gracious the
Lord is. I said there were many occasions
in the Word of God where we read of God's wonderful favour, recorded
especially in the Psalms. Again in Psalm 116 we read, in
verse 6, the Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low. What happened then? We may sometimes
be brought low. We may think we're brought very
low. But I remember hearing Frank Gosling
once preaching and saying that in
his life he was brought very low. And he was fearful that
if he was brought any lower He would sink forever. Well, he did come lower, but
he said this, but I found that underneath were the everlasting
arms. for help of God. And so here
the Psalmist says, I was brought low and he helped me. And this is not just the testimony
of the Psalmist. This surely is the testimony
of the whole Church of God to realise what a blessing it is
and what a favour it is that we do have a kind and gracious
God Psalm 118 verse 13. This is what the psalmist says.
Thou hast thrust sore at me. Yeah, sometimes we have sore
things to endure. Thou hast thrust sore at me that
I might fall. That's what the devil wants.
He brings things, he does all he can to make us fall. And what that really means is
to turn against God. But thankfully he was able to
testify. And isn't it good when we got
these very positive truths in God's word? But the Lord helped
me. But the Lord helped me. A testimony. of God's support. And the next
verse says, the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. What a change you see from that
exceedingly great temptation. Thou hast thrust so at me that
I might fall. That's what the devil wants you
and me to do. But thanks be to God. We are
more than conquerors through him that I might fall. But the Lord helped me. The Lord
is my strength and song and is become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation
is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of
the Lord doeth valiantly. So we see there wonderful truths,
wonderful support really from almighty God. And then the 124th
Psalm gives us a wonderful verse to just read. The last verse,
he's speaking about our soul is escaped as a bird out of the
snare of the fowlers. A snare of the fowler is to catch
birds. And the devil does all he can
to catch us. He lays many snares. And therefore
it's spoken like this, our soul is escaped. The devil continues
to set snares for us. Our soul is escaped. You see,
that's the positive view. Our soul is escaped as a bird
out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we are
escaped. Our help is in the name of the
Lord who made heaven and earth. Nothing less than that, you see,
the great God. It's wonderful to realize that
we do have a great God on our side. He's on the side of all his people.
He allows us to be tempted. He allows us to suffer, but he's
also promised to bring us safe home to our desired haven. This is the God that by God's
grace we adore. My friends, he's worthy, is he
not, of all our admiration to realize how kind and good and
how gracious our God is. Hitherto, Hath the Lord helped
us? Well, the Lord has indeed helped
us to wait upon Him. Again, by nature, we are impatient,
aren't we? Word of God tells us, your time
is always, but my time is not yet. We have to wait patiently
for God's time. It doesn't mean to say you stop
praying, Doesn't mean to say you give up. You have to wait
for God's appearing. For God's time. God has such
a different timetable to ours. And it's good, therefore, to
be given grace to wait upon the Lord for these things. Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. And my friends, it is the help
of God that grants us this ability to wait upon Him. Yes, God is
a gracious God, and sometimes we tend to lose sight of the
fact that we're just a little insignificant creature on this
earth. And my friends, God has that
great plan right over the earth, and we're just one very minute
particle of God's plan. and yet to think that we are
a part of God's plan, but also to realize that we have to fit
in to that part of God's plan. Not therefore to be impatient,
but to be willing, to be patient. Indeed, as we sometimes refer
to that 40th Psalm, I waited patiently for the Lord inclined
unto me and heard my cry." Yes, it's a grace that God gives.
It's not something that you and I are naturally blessed with,
but it's that which God gives. David knew it. He waited patiently
for the Lord, and the Lord inclined unto him and heard his cry. Don't give up. Pray on. Pray
on, hitherto hath the Lord helped us, so help to wait. Helps to have that confidence
in God. And that means that we have to
look out of ourselves, not to rely on our own ability to do
this or to do that, to bring this to pass or that to pass.
You know, it's good to realise that we have a God who is gracious,
who knows exactly what we need and exactly what will bring honour
and glory to his great and holy name. Hitherto hath the Lord
helped us. It's good indeed sometimes to
just revert to this simple word hitherto, which means until now,
and to look back in your life If you may be faced with difficulties
in one way or another and cast your mind back and say, well,
has the Lord forsaken me? Has the Lord passed me by? You'll
have to confess, no, the Lord has been gracious. The Lord hasn't
passed you by. You may have thought He has,
but that's because we're impatient. No, the Lord has promised to
bring us safely home at last to our desired haven. Hitherto then hath the Lord helped
us, helped us to plead for his blessing. And sometimes, you
know, we may have prayed that the Lord would come and truly
bless our souls and give us to realise and to know that we are
amongst those whom the Lord has called out of the darkness of
nature into the glorious light of his everlasting gospel. And
it may seem perhaps the Lord hasn't heard, the Lord hasn't
answered our prayers and we may become distressed, we may become
sorrowful. Well, hitherto hath the Lord
helped us And I said, well, how does that stand? He's enabled
you to hold on your way. That means you haven't given
up. You haven't given up. He's enabled
you to hold on. The Lord enables us to hold on. And we must not forget, as we
sometimes do, that the Lord is gracious and he waits to be gracious
and he has an appointed time, a set time to favour Zion, a
set time to come and to bless our souls, a set time to reveal
himself unto us as it is not unto the world. And sometimes
we have an agenda which we want God to work to. And that agenda
may not be for his honour and glory. We may think it would
be. We may think it must be. But
sometimes God enables us to analyse it a bit carefully and to see
that if God did answer our prayer, our cry, in the way that we wanted,
then we would claim some of the glory. The devil's very subtle. He wants you to claim some glory
to detract from the glory of God. My friends, God is a jealous
God, and God will have all the glory. He won't allow you and
me to have any glory ourselves. And what a good thing, therefore,
if we come to this position and be able to say, yes, hitherto
hath the Lord helped me to submit myself to the will of God, to
submit myself to His way, because His way is best for you and me. God knows the end from the beginning. You and I only know what we're
passing through now. God knows the end. And he knows
what he will do. That should be a comfort to you
and me. The Lord hasn't forsaken us. He hasn't cast us off. He knows what he will do. What
a mercy, then, to have this word applied to us. Hitherto hath
the Lord helped us. He has helped us, and I hope
we can't deny that great truth. And therefore, having obtained
the help of God, we continue unto this day. What a blessing
it is for us, then, to press on. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. To pray. To pray. The devil will say, it's no use
praying. You may as well give up. You've prayed for a long time
for this and nothing's happened. Therefore, give up. Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. He's helped you to continue in
prayer. Well, press on. Don't give up. So you're able to say then, until
now, hitherto, God has helped me. Hasn't been easy? It's not easy. Prayer is not
easy. Sometimes people may think prayer
is just speaking a matter of words. True prayer is not easy. But when God blesses us, with
the spirit of prevailing prayer, we know that our prayer has entered
in to the holy place. But again, when we have that
confirmation from the Holy Spirit, we should then not expect it
to be answered immediately. because God has His time and
God has His way. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us, helped us then to pray to Him, helped us to come to Him,
helped us to rest our soul upon our Saviour. Yes, to rest in
what He has said. The Word of God is full, of gracious
and glorious promises the devil doesn't want you to read them
he doesn't want you to lay hold of them well my friends pray
on that his word his great and glorious promises may be applied
to your soul because when his promises are applied what does
it do then? it brings comfort, does it not?
Wonderful comfort, isn't it? It's just like Isaiah tells us
in that 40th chapter. It's a very wonderful and beautiful
chapter. And he starts off with those
lovely words. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. What that really
means is the Lord Jesus has fought the battle for us. He's conquered. It's accomplished. Our salvation
is secure. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Well, we see the wonderful testimony
of the prophet there. And what comfort, surely, this
should be. What comfortable words it should
be to realise that by the grace of God, the Lord has fought the
battle. He's conquered. And we are more
than conquerors through him. not because of what we've done,
not because of our ability, but because of what the glorious
Saviour has done for us. Our warfare is accomplished.
Our iniquity is pardoned. For we have received of the Lord's
hand double for all our sins. Do we not have a most kind and
gracious God? And so here, Samuel then took
a stone. He wanted this to not be forgotten. And it's good, my friends, if
you and I perhaps, it may not be a physical stone, it wouldn't
matter if it was a physical stone, to be placed every time we looked
at it. It would remind us of this great
and glorious truth. Hitherto, until now, Hath the Lord helped us? We need to be reminded so often
of these things. And that's why clearly Samuel
on this occasion took this stone. It must have been a great joy
for him, especially as he would have remembered the time when
the ark was lost. Yes, sad time that was. He would
have been quite young in those days. And of course, Hofnei and
Fizzi Phinehas lost their lives. And as a result, Eli fell off
the seat and broke his neck. It was a dark day. No doubt the
devil thought he'd gained the victory. It appeared so, but
he hadn't. In due time, God brought about
a wonderful victory. And Samuel desired the gracious
man that he was. to record it in such a way that
the help of God would not be forgotten. And it's good for us today, in
our little lives, to not forget the help of God. It's very easy to rush on, but
let us look back, let us discover how God has been our helper,
be able to come and say with all humbleness of spirit and
yet desiring to thank and to praise our God in the words of
Samuel, Ebenezer, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Amen.