From Riches to Rags, and the Glory I Found There

  The Israelites lost a brutal battle at Ebenezer... They had forsaken the God of their people and were embroiled in idol worship. False gods prevailed in their lives and they seemed to forget that God cannot dwell where an idol dwells. They lost a great battle and the Ark of the Covenant was ripped away from them. The very presence of God...lost. It took Israel 20 years to return to the God of her youth. This revival led them into a victorious battle and returned the Ark of the Covenant to them. A glorious reunion, a reawakening. In order to remember the victory at the hands of their great God, the prophet Samuel placed a stone at the very place of their victory and he called the stone Ebenezer (Stone of Help), saying "Thus far God has helped us." Though this story is not my own, I will say that I find myself so often identifying with the struggles and triumphs of the Israelites.  Come, walk with me through my Ebenezer battlefield... I would like to show you what I see of my

  I find myself often reminded by the Holy Spirit that I am not some paragon of living a life of grief well. I wouldn't say that I struggle a lot with the mentality that I am...but I know that I could ...if I just gave myself a little leeway. If I just gave myself a little too much grace...I could see the pharisee in me. The pharisees of the New Testament relied on all the traditions and all the laws and all the order that God set in place to bring about connection prior to the coming of the Messiah. They relied so heavily on "checking the boxes" that they rejected the man who was sent to save them. They puffed up their chests with pride and relied on the letter of the law...completely forgetting the heart of the law. The heart that beat inside the chest of the very man they chose to hate. I want to live a good life. I want to do the right things. I want to follow the perfect order of things that God laid out for us in the Bible. The pharisee in me wants to check off all