God's faithfulness Archives

As the wife of a worship pastor, I’ve heard the explanation of “Here I raise mine Ebenezer” more than a few times. But there are moments when all we’ve heard transforms into all we know.

In 2007, my husband spent ten days in ICU. Seven of those days he was on life support. I needed a stone of help like never before in my life. You see, for me, my husband has always been the rock, the steady one, the person who helps me. In those moments when the only sounds were the rhythm of the ventilator and the melody of beeping from the symphony of machines keeping him alive, I hit the bottom, rock bottom, so to speak.

I was drained. Empty. Helpless.

These are the words God spoke to me through His living Word:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:5-8, emphasis added

He reminded me, gently and tenderly, as He is wont to do that He ONLY is my rock, my mighty rock.

I sat there, alone, yet not alone. Surrounded by the heavy presence of the Most High God who beckoned me softly to trust Him. Even now, even with this.

Tears streaming down my face, blurring the words on the pages of my Bible, I cried out like the man who longed for healing for his child, “I believe, help my unbelief.” And this God, this Rock, this Refuge, He met me where I was. He accepted my fears, my doubts, even my anger and my hurt.

There in an ICU room in a hospital in south Georgia, I laid down me and I raised my Ebenezer. I chose to walk in faith that the road ahead would not leave me alone, for He would be with me. I chose to trust in Him. And He has been my refuge.

My husband has on his desk at the church a set of prayer rocks with various words for prompting prayers. A few years ago my daughter made sets of prayer rocks for her great-grandmother and her great-aunt. I have a little rock myself. A piece of gravel from the driveway of our home in south Georgia. I picked it up one morning after Scott was home from the hospital and doing much better. Because I wanted something to remind me … not a prompt to pray for my husband but an Ebenezer, a rock of help, to remind me of the God who is my Rock.

How has Scripture been an Ebenezer in your life? Are there passages that refocus you, remind you of the faithfulness of God in your life? Would you share them with us in the comments today?

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there He tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

Exodus 15:23-26

Bitter water. Doesn’t sound appealing at all, does it?

The Israelites had been freed from the bondage of slavery and now they were faced with bitter water. Does your life ever feel that way? One huge situation is finally resolved and then comes another … it can leave us overwhelmed and broken.

Elizabeth George writes:

What an object lesson this encounter with Jehovah-Rophe, the Lord who heals, must have been for the Israelites (and for us)! God’s people were dying of thirst with only bitter, poisonous water on hand. And God took their physical need and turned it into a spiritual issue. Out of a bitter experience God revealed Himself in yet another sweet, comforting way, as “Jehovah heals.”

Jehovah Rophe, the LORD heals. What a precious truth … and promise.

God’s healing is not just physical. He also reaches down offers total healing … in all areas of our lives.

Consider these three ways God heals and examples of women in Scripture who were the recipients of His total healing.

1. Physical Healing. Remember the woman with the issue of blood? Her story is told in Matthew 9. She had been sick for years and used every bit of money she had to seek healing. When Jesus passed by, she reached out and touched the hem of His garment. I love this story! She was healed immediately and completely! Why? Jesus said, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:22) I am so thankful for a God who heals us physically.

2. Emotional Healing. Hannah. The broken woman longing for a child, praying so fervently that the priest thought she was drunk. Can you imagine her brokenness? God heard the heart-felt prayers of a wounded woman. And He answered them. I think though the most beautiful part of this story is the change we see in Hannah … from a woman desperate to have a child to a woman willing to give her son back to the God who gave him to her. That, my friends, is the power of God to heal us emotionally. {You can read Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel 1 – 2.}

3. Spiritual Healing. The most profound healing God ever does in any of our lives is spiritual. That moment when He moves us from death into life, when we become new creations, the old gone and the new in its place (2 Corinthians 5:17). Mary Magdalene’s story is such a beautiful example of that total renewal, total healing. From a woman possessed by seven demons (Luke 8:2) to the woman who first saw Christ after His resurrection (John 20:15) … Mary Magdalene offers us a poignant and powerful image of the full spiritual healing offered to each of us by Jehovah Rophe.

Are you in need of healing? Are there some bitter waters in your life? Will you call upon the God who heals and trust Him to mend the brokenness?

Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:1,3

Today, right now, Jehovah Rophe is offering you the gift of healing. Will you embrace it? And praise Him for this amazing gift?

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The quote above is from this book by Elizabeth George. I highly recommend it for either personal study or for a group.