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1 Samuel 7:3 – 15

This is a most difficult article for me to write, and it doesn’t require a lot of soul-searching and reflection on my part to know why.  This one is hard for me because it is the feature I most lack.  Courage is a resource that I know I have, but seem wary of accessing.  I guess one of the keys to Courage is developing the habit of using it.

When I stop and look back across my life, I see a series of miraculous events.  One occurrence after another all of which defy description and logic.  Yes, I could claim that I have attained success and overcome the defeats in my life through planning, hard work and perseverance.  I am not going to tell you that I have arrived here without the benefit of all of those features, but my life story is one of God repeatedly and consistently carrying me from one phase to the next.

You might think that this is a great blessing and that it would result in a life lived courageously.  I suppose that it should, but fear lurks.  I have come to acknowledge that my success, the joy I reap, is primarily due to a force beyond my control and that force is God, I have no doubts. He continues to bless me on a daily basis.

In spite of this deep conviction, I live with fear – a fear that one day I will lose that connection, lose the power of God’s blessing.  There is no foundation for such a fear, but it lingers nevertheless.  Several years ago, I was inspired by a wonderful sermon preached by Dr. Robert Hayes, now a bishop in the United Methodist Church.  The title of the sermon was, “Here I Shall Build Mine Ebenezer.”  His text was 1 Samuel 7:12:

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.’

Dr. Hayes drew our attention to this scripture where the Israelites built this monument to remember their liberation from Egypt and how God led them through the many dangers and obstacles that they encountered in the process.

Dr. Hayes called on us to build our Ebenezers; to build monuments to mark our progress.  He observed that we need to erect monuments to our accomplishments, not to revel in the victories but rather to remember several things through those monuments.  The first thing we need to memorialize is that we prevailed in overcoming something that seemed insurmountable.  We also need to remember that we did not do it on our own.  It was through the strength and faithfulness of God that we attained our victory.  Finally, the monuments remind us that God was with us and that God will continue to bring us through when we remain true to Him.

I need, we need, to know that God will not abandon us.  He has not brought me this far only to drop me.  That would be the height of foolishness.  He has brought me to this point in my life so that I might win even greater victories, remaining mindful that the purpose of each and every victory is to bring glory and honor to him and to further the work of building His Kingdom on earth.

We all have opportunities from time to time to see God’s wonders, and when I do, my first reaction is usually, “I could never do that, I am just a simple man.”  But Jesus’ message is just the opposite.  He repeatedly encouraged and challenged his disciples to step out in faith and trust in God to deliver the victory.  Time and again, they accomplished all that they envisioned and more.

We often talk of the great miracles that Jesus performed – healing the sick and raising the dead.  Things no human could or can accomplish right?  Read on beyond the Gospels.  Read on into Acts.  Here you will find Peter and John performing the very same miracles.  Human beings buoyed by Christ achieving the impossible.

If you had asked Peter on Good Friday what great acts he would accomplish in the name of Jesus, I suspect he would have answered dejectedly that there would be none. His Master was dead and he, Peter, had abandoned Jesus in Jesus’ time of need.  Surely, there was no future for a man like that in Jesus’ plans.  Even on Easter Sunday, when he knew, absolutely knew, that Jesus had risen, he must have doubted that he would have a role in Jesus’ reign.  After all, he had denied and abandoned Jesus and all he stood for.  Clearly, he was doomed.

But we know the continuation of the story.  We know that Jesus came to Peter and the others on the shores of the Sea of Tiberius and presented Peter the opportunity to confess his failures and to be restored (John 21).  Then, in one of the great surprises of the Bible, Jesus not only restores him, but he charges Peter with feeding his sheep.  Peter took up that challenge and Jesus delivered the victory.  Peter’s work continues to live today.

This is a tremendous story of failure and redemption.  By my assessment, it is the greatest such story in the entire 66 books of the Bible.  As we look at the story, we draw strength from it and are forgiving of Peter and his lack of foresight, because such an event had never occurred before . . . or had it?

To be continued…

In eager anticipation of His perfecting me,

Robert