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Stone of Help

1 Samuel 7:5-13

Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you."

When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah.

When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines.

They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines."

Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf, and the Lord answered him.

While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.

The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.

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."

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.

*Meditation*

In the Old Testament, the Israelites sometimes placed a large stone or built a monument to mark where God had done a great work. Those monuments helped them remember God is faithful. The monuments were often given names, as in this story, where Samuel names the spot Ebenezer, which means literally "stone of help."

Think of the moments when God has done great works in your life. In what ways do these experiences serve as monuments to remind you of God's ongoing work in your life?

Think about one of these moments. Did it occur on a retreat or at a camp? Perhaps at a worship service? Did it happen at a really good place in your life? Or did it happen during a really hard time? Name that moment and ponder it for a while.

As you look back at your "Ebenezer" moment, consider what you learned about God in that place. In what ways did God help you in that time? If there were a plaque with an inscription on that monument, what would it say?

In your time of reflection, take that moment and set it up before God as a stone that marks his presence in your life saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped me."

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Taken from "Enjoy the Silence" by Maggie & Duffy Robbins, copyright 2006, Zondervan/Youth Specialties. Used by permission. Order the book here: http://www.YouthSpecialties.com/linker/index.php?id=6441

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Creation Q & A

Q: How can extinct fossil creatures still be living?

A: It all started in Australia, at the Riversleigh fossil deposits in North West Queensland.

Scientists found some fossils of turtles that they thought had become extinct during the so-called Pleistocene period. This was about 50,000 years ago, according to the evolutionary timescale. Then about 90 kilometers, or 56 miles away, they found a new species of a living turtle. It turns out that this turtle appears to be the same as the fossils they found!

The remarkable thing was that the living turtles showed absolutely no signs of any evolutionary changes over the supposedly 50,000 years since the fossils were formed.

This turtle is just another example of a living specimen that appears to be identical to the fossils that supposedly formed many thousands, or sometimes millions, of years ago according to evolution. We call these 'living fossils.'

If most of the fossils we find today are the result of a worldwide flood that occurred in the days of Noah, then you would expect to find many of the same animals alive today. And this is what we do see--which fits with Genesis.

Source: AnswersinGenesis.org

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