“Thus Far…”

1Samuel 7:2-15

March 10, 2002

 Introduction

 On Friday afternoon in Toronto, a new Canadian legend was enshrined.  For on Friday afternoon, at the Hockey Hall of Fame, the most famous coin in Canadian history took its place among the holiest of hockey holies.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about the “Loonie” that the icemaker in Salt Lake City froze into center ice at the Olympic hockey arena.  The very ice that both our men and women’s hockey teams skated to the gold medal on.   

 After the men’s gold medal game, it was revealed that the icemaker, an Edmontonian, by the way, had secretly placed a Loonie on the center face-off dot in an attempt to bring good luck to the Canadian teams. 

So on Friday afternoon, as I drove to the church, I heard on the CBC that the Loonie now sits mounted at the Hall of Fame.  People for generations will be able to visit and touch the Loonie, a new symbol of national pride and global hockey supremacy. 

The “Salt Lake Loonie”, as it has been called, is a symbol.  It symbolizes longsuffering.  After all, it had been fifty years between gold, medals for Canadian hockey teams.  It is a symbol of present euphoria and a national hysteria that cries, “We’re the greatest!”  And it is a symbol of the future, a ‘timeless’ reminder, in the event of future dry spells, of what we once were.    

This morning we are looking at the story of Samuel and his Ebenezer stone: a symbol, I suggest, of a nation’s past, present and future.  This stone, erected by Samuel, the great prophet and leader of Israel, stood as a reminder of God’s provision.  After a harrowing period in the life of Israel, a time that brought defeat, unfaithfulness to God, and restoration, Samuel, it says, “took a stone and set it up…He named it Ebenezer, saying ‘thus far has the Lord helped us”(1 Samuel 7:12). 

This morning I want us to explore the significance of that symbol.  I want us to look at what it meant to Samuel and the Israelites, and understand the importance of symbols for our faith community here at Zion. 

For I believe that Samuel’s Ebenezer stone was more than just a stone.  It pointed to something.  It stood as a benchmark; it oriented an entire people.  It stood as a physical reminder that their life, breath, and being could be attributed to God and God alone.  Samuel’s Ebenezer stone reminded Israel that they were a people of God centered on God dependent on God past, present, and future.

Context

Our story begins with a nation in mourning and fear.  Israel, God’s chosen nation, was under threat of attack from their archenemies.

Now, the Philistines were returning the ark because they had been inflicted with all sorts of sickness and trouble.  During the time the ark had been away, Israel had wandered away from God.  They had allowed all sorts of foreign gods to infiltrate their community.  But now, in their mourning, they “sought after the Lord”(v. 2). 

Thus Far (Past)-Reminders of our past

One of the reasons I wanted to steer you away from just marking the good on your own Ebenezer papers was because our past is not always good.  For some, the past year has been wrought with pain and suffering.  For Israel, their past was one of disobedience and mourning and war.  So when they encountered Samuel’s Ebenezer stone, they weren’t necessarily celebrating a glorious history. 

Symbols don’t always remind us of good times.  In London’s Westminster Abbey, there are two powerful symbols of a tragic past.  The first is a small broken pane of glass at the bottom of a massive window.  The broken pane was a result of Nazi bombs that fell on London during World War II.  The glass has never been repaired, thankfully, because it is a reminder of the past. 

The second symbol is a series of statues outside the church of great martyrs of the Twentieth Century.  There in ivory-white stone is Martin Luther King Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Mohatma Gandhi among others.  These statues stand as symbols of painful past events; men an women who were killed for their beliefs.

Samuel’s stone, in part, points to a painful past.  In the same way, our Ebenezer that we’re going to create this afternoon will also point us to difficult times.  But that’s ok.  You see, God is in all of our times—good, bad and indifferent. 

As Samuel set up the stone, he spoke the words, “Thus far…” he pointed his people to a past that was not always good while drawing their attention to God who is always good, who provides help to his people.  

Just before Samuel set up the stone, Israel had been protected from their enemies.  While the nation of Israel was calling out to God through fasting and prayer and community pleading, the Philistines were preparing for a sneak attack.  But, it says that, “God thundered with a loud thunder against the philistines and threw them into such panic that they were routed before the Israelites”(v. 10). 

Friends, God is good.  He is the God of our past—regardless of our past.  When we see all of our paper tiles mounted together as one Ebenezer, we will be able to see our past, and see our God’s involvement in it.

Thus Far (Present)-Living in the ‘now’

When Samuel spoke the words, “Thus far…” he was also calling his people to celebrate ‘now’.  In verses 10 and 11 we get the picture of God delivering his people from the hands of their enemy.  Then in verse 12 it says, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up…” Then Samuel took a stone.  What prompted Samuel to mark the occasion?  God’s miraculous intervention and victory.  This was a celebration. 

In 1987, immediately after the Oilers had won the Stanley Cup, Wayne Gretzky, team captain, gathered the team at center ice for a group picture.  So they all unceremoniously tumbled together into a sweaty heap in the ice—players, coaches, trainers and management, and the Stanley Cup—to permanently mark the occasion.  You might say they gathered to set up an Ebenezer. 

I think Samuel had an incredible sense of ceremony and symbolism.  You can imagine the excitement and the hooting and hollering and the hugging that was going on amongst the people of Israel.  They had just won!  God had saved them!  And in the midst of their celebration, their captain, Samuel, had the sense to mark the occasion.  “Thus far has the Lord helped us!” he cried.

Friends, we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Today, however, we are together as a community of faith, celebrating God’s presence.  There is a lesson here for us.  We must not wait for a special occasion to celebrate God’s presence and help.  This must be a daily ritual. 

How can we make this celebration a daily thing?  The Bible says, “This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it”(Psalm 118:24).  This is a verbal Ebenezer.  The Psalmist is pointing to a present place—this day—to bring attention to God’s presence.  Today, at this moment, thus far has the Lord helped… 

Thus Far (Future)-Faith in the Future

 Finally, when Samuel spoke the words, “Thus far…” and set up the stone, he was also pointing to the future.  Implicit in “Thus far” is the idea that there is further to go.   There is a journey underway.

 I find it interesting that the Bible records where Samuel put the stone: “Then Samuel took a stone and set up us between Mizpah and Shen…”(v. 12).  Mizpah and Shen were two Israelite settlements.  They were nearby to one another.  The road between the two likely saw many Israelites traveling back and forth between them.  It was on this road that Samuel placed the stone.  People were going to pass it as they journeyed back and forth. 

Our story concludes with a post-script that says, “So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.  Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines…”(v. 13).  For the time being, there was safety in Israel. 

 But the fact of the matter is, that the Philistines would again attack, and Israel would again be thrown into turmoil.  The history of God’s people is one marked by periods of victory, peace, famine, and war.  Samuel’s Ebenezer stone didn’t mark the end of the journey it simply marked a place, a moment among moments. 

 Eugene Peterson once wrote that one of the most important practices a church can do is mark their history.  To pause and recount where they have been, where they are, and long for where God is taking them.  So it is for us.  Later when we create our own Ebenezer, we are essentially marking a place on our journey.  We have not arrived, but are “straining toward what is ahead…pressing on toward the goal”(Philippians 3:13-14).   

I wonder what it would have been like for future Israelites to walk past Samuel’s Ebenezer stone.  I have no doubt that every Israelite child would have heard the story about that stone—how it came to be, what preceded it.  For story was an essential, foundational, element of their culture.  I suspect that in times of future war and peace, future journey, the people of Israel would have looked on that stone as a reminder of God’s past provision, his present presence, and future journey.

Application & Conclusion

What we’re doing here today is essential.  We are creating a symbol that is inspired by the past, celebrated in the present, and will encourage our further journey.  As a community we are pausing to reflect, celebrate and anticipate. 

I pray we leave with an appreciation of symbol.  We live in a culture that is rapidly eliminating historical symbols.  When something gets to be a hundred years old, it is torn down and replaced by a glossy, glassy building.  Symbols of history are paramount to our ability to see ourselves as part of God’s grand story. 

But if we leave with nothing else today—after all has been spoken, sung, and eaten—may we leave with an awareness of God’s presence in all of life: past, present, and future.  The Bible says that in Him we live and move and have our being; there is nothing in our lives that is lived outside the presence of God.  God is inside and outside of time.  He is in your office, your finances, your leisure, your home, your relationships, your alone time and your relationship time.  He is not one of the things we do in a day, he simply is.  

Samuel’s Ebenezer stone was more than just a stone.  It pointed to something.  It stood as a benchmark; it oriented an entire people.  It stood as a physical reminder that their life, breath, and being could be attributed to God and God alone.  Samuel’s Ebenezer stone reminded Israel that they were a people of God centered on God dependent on God past, present, and future.  Everyone who passed that stone from then on were reminded of God’s past provision, His presence now, and his promise of a future. 

©2002, Shaun Dyer

Zion Baptist Church of Kensington

Edmonton, CANADA

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