Thus far has the LORD helped us

I'm reading the Bible in one year and the Old Testament reading for May 20 (I'm slightly ahead in my readings) is 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17.

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."" - 1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV)

After subduing the Philistines at Mizpah, Samuel established an altar to praise the LORD for delivering the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines.

For various reasons, the 1st of May seems like an appropriate time for me to raise my Ebenezer, to remember what the LORD has done in the past and give thanks for what He will do in the future.

The best is yet to be!

Thank you Father, that if it is Your will, You will bring it to pass at just the right time, and Your will is exactly what I would desire if I knew all the facts.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

- Isaiah 55:8-11 (NIV)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

- Lamentations 3:19-27 (NIV)

Thank you Father, that if it is not Your will, Your grace is sufficient for me, and Your will is still exactly what I would desire if I knew all the facts.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV)

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV)

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy 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

Links: Wait (29 May 10), Here I raise my Ebenezer (2 Jun 10), Hither by Thy help I've come (9 Aug 10)