Anti-Procrastination Challenge: The Ebenezer
You may be wondering what this business about the Ebenezer is all about and what it has to do with my Anti-Procrastination challenge today.
In the Bible, an Ebenezer was a stone of remembrance. In I Samuel 7:12, Samuel set up a stone “and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” In Joshua 4, the Israelites were commanded to take 12 stones out of the Jordan river (one for each tribe) and set them up when they reached the opposite shore. The purpose of these stones was to serve as a memorial to the children of Israel that would remind them and their children of God's power and deliverance all the way from their leaving Egypt until the point when they reached the Promised Land.
I believe that we as Christians should set up “Ebenezer stones” as reminders for ourselves and for our children of how powerful our God is and how He cares for us. When discouraging times come, we can look at those memorials and remember what God has done for us in times past. It is so encouraging to look back and remember specific prayers that received specific answers. God has done miracles large and small on our family's behalf. I don't want to forget those things. I don't want my children to be ignorant of those things either.
“Ebenezer stones” for me come in the form of a journal. I like to keep track of things we're going through and how God overcomes those situations. There are so many times that God has obviously been at work in certain situations. If I don't write them down they will go unnoticed and forgotten throughout the rest of history. If I do write them down, I can look back on them and be blessed. I can show my children what a big God their Mommy and Daddy serve and teach them that they can trust Him too.
My journaling lately, though, has been sporadic at best. The more kids I have it seems the harder it is to fit it in. But I have to make time for it. God commanded the children of Israel to set up those stones because He did not want them to forget who He is and what He had done. He doesn't want me to forget either.
I may not be able to spend an extensive amount of time every day, but when the Lord has worked in my life in a specific way, I'm going to make it a point to find the time to write it down.
If you're a Christian, I believe you should be keeping a memorial of God's working in your life too. (If you don't know for sure that you're a Christian and on your way to heaven, please don't let this day pass without making sure you know! You can find out here or email me for more information.)
Your “Ebenezer” may look a little different than mine. Maybe it will simply be a prayer list on which you record the specific answers that God gives you. Maybe it will be a detailed journal. Maybe it will be an index card file on which you write down one line a day of God's blessings, answers to prayer, or what He has taught you.
Whatever you decide – make the time! Not only will it be a blessing to you personally and be a tool for you to teach your children, but ultimately, as God said in Joshua 4, “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.”