EBENEZER!

This word, Ebenezer,  means, "Stone of Help", so we sing:  "Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I'm come: And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home."
In I Samuel 4:1, we read:
      "Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer,  --  And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines."
      In the 7th chapter, we again see the Philistines going up against Israel, "And the children of Israel said to Samuel: Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.  --  And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him!  (Praise the Lord!  He still hears today.)  And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder upon the Philistines, and they were smitten before Israel.  Then Samuel took a stone and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us'! 
      I like this little poem by Mabel Haldeman, simply titled -- 'Ebenezer'!

"Hitherto the Lord has helped us --  all our way with Him below:
      And with courage -- on we journey -- in the face of every foe.
Hitherto the Lord has helped us -- over rugged mountain way;
      Through the valleys dark and dreary, He has been our strength and stay.

Hitherto the Lord has helped us -- through the storm and through the calm;
      Never has nor shall forsake us -- All our life has been a Psalm,
Hitherto the Lord has helped us -- Through the flood and through the flame;
      Though our circumstances varied, He has always been the same!

 Hallelujah!  what a Saviour!
       He's the fairest of the fair;
 He will keep us till we gather
      At the meeting in the air!"

      "Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my yielded heart to Thee.
       Let me know Thee in Thy fullness; guide me by Thy mighty hand;
Till, transformed in Thine own image, in Thy presence I shall stand."
        Amen!