Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)—-read 1 Samuel 7:5-12
Dr. F. W. Boreham told of a scrap of paper that was framed and displayed in his parent’s home. The words said: “Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us.” One day he asked his mother about it, and she told him of a time when she and her husband faced a crisis. She was distressed for weeks, but one day as she paced back and forth she paused in front of an almanac on the wall. “The only thing I saw was the text in the corner,” she said. “It was as if someone had spoken the words: ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.’ I was so overcome, I sat down and had a good cry; and then I began again with a fresh heart and trust.”
This is a wonderful verse for the New Year! The same God who brought us this far will lead us on. He Who has been our help in ages past is our hope for the years to come. If we live in the light of eternity ,knowing our times are in His hands, we can face each day with confidence and courage.
In 1758, Robert Robinson based his great hymn “Come, Thou Fount” on this verse and it continues to cheer our hearts today. As we start out the new year it would do us good to read the entire song:
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.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
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,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day
