1 Samuel 7:3-17

Verse 12, Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

Why does God often allow delays, stretching us to the last limit before we see things change in answer to prayer?

There are two ways in asking such a question: one is from unbelief and the questioning of God’s wisdom, while the other is a desire to know what God is teaching us through it.

God often allows us to face dire straits and reach the precipice edge where all fears within are surfaced; we dread the thought of being brought to the end of all our resources wherein we think our security lies. It is beyond the eleventh hour that we are inclined to throw in the towel where a situation is deemed too late or impossible to solve or save. God allows us to exhaust the very last thread of independence and human hope to teach us, when all has failed, nothing is too hard or impossible for Him to move in answer to our requests. God is educating us along the line of His economy – not ours! Today’s unstable economy has rocked our luxurious living; not so much our necessities. In asking God to teach us through such times, we will truly re-evaluate what our needs really are. Our view of security is somewhat shallow to God’s perspective; ours tend to be short term, God’s is long term having no end. We will find that it is under His wings we are comforted by an everlasting refuge and security.

God will often have us encounter perplexing trials where our own wisdom is dashed to the ground until we are confident in Him, not sweating with anxiety, waiting and wondering whether or not God is going to help us. God wants us to be so confident in Him – so much so – that we can leave the uncontrollable circumstances in His hands to engineer, knowing that He will lovingly and richly provide ALL as heavenly Father; He wants us to be carefree – not irresponsible – so we can truly preoccupy ourselves with the priorities of His kingdom into which He has saved us. We will look back with awe and amazement at how He fixed the muddles and ‘hopeless’ situations we found ourselves in.

Our confident anticipation of God’s future grace and help is as sure as His promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So today – no matter what – I boldly raise my Ebenezer!