Teach me ever to adore Thee, May I still Thy goodness prove, While the hope of endless glory Fills my heart with joy and love. The words fit well with the sentiment expressed in the hymn: O Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. When we sing, Here I raise my Ebenezer, we are poetically quoting Samuel, who raised the Ebenezer stone to remind the Israelites of God’s help for them in their time of trouble. Unfortunately, the exact site of the stone is unknown today. Whenever the Israelites looked at the stone, they would remember how God had helped them. As he raised it he called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (1 Samuel 7:12). ![]() In the confusion that followed, the Israelites soundly defeated the Philistines.Īs a reminder of the great victory God gave to Israel, Samuel took a great stone and raised it as a memorial between Mizpeh and Shen. As prophet and judge, Samuel offered sacrifices to God, so that when the Philistines approached, God thundered with a great thunder (1 Samuel 7:10). As they fought more battles, the prophet Samuel led the Israelites as their last judge. Fearing God, the Philistines sent the ark back to the Israelites, but continued to fight. God then sent plagues upon the Philistines and caused the idol of their god Dagon to fall over on its face. ![]() To their anguish, however, the Philistines captured the ark and took it back to their pagan temple. In an attempt to defeat the Philistines, the Israelites took the ark of the covenant into battle as a sort of good luck charm. Robinson chose the phrase, Here I raise my Ebenezer, from 1 Samuel 7:12, because it reminds God’s people how He he delivered Israel from danger.Ĭhapters 4 through 7 of 1 Samuel describe a series of battles between the Israelites and the Philistines. This hymn, written by Robert Robinson in 1758, stresses the joy of Christianity and the Christian’s need to rely on the Lord. The phrase, Here I raise my Ebenezer, is the beginning of the second verse of the familiar hymn, O Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Since the songs we sing should teach and admonish, we risk vain worship if we sing words that are in conflict with scripture. Paul taught, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16). God commanded singing as worship, and not entertainment. Those who gathered sang “O Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to conclude the ceremony.It is very important that we think about what we sing in our worship to God if we want to be pleasing to Him. After the Ebenezer Stone was unveiled to the crowd of faculty, staff, students, and friends of LCU, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Jerry Harris, gave a prayer of thanksgiving, and chair of strategic leadership committee of the Board of Trustees, Al Roberts, gave a prayer of blessing and dedication. Byron Rogers, prior to the stone’s reveal. The LCU Praise Choir sang “Be Thou My Vision,” a song composed by chemistry professor Dr. “The stone reminds us of the sacrificial commitment of those who labored here before us the many minds that have been shaped, the many hearts that have been softened, and the many lives that have been changed here because of God’s active presence on this campus.” ![]() We take this stone and we set it upright as our own Ebenezer, our own memorial pillar,” says President Perrin at the ceremony. ![]() “We follow the example of Samuel and Jacob today. Samuel took a stone in 1 Samuel 7:12 after God helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines, and Jacob set up a stone in Genesis 28:18 as a memorial pillar of God’s promise. President Tim Perrin reminded the crowd of the spiritual giants who put their trust in God and raised a stone in remembrance. The board decided to place something tangible on the LCU campus to not only serve as reminder of all God has done, but to publicly announce that LCU has not developed by her own will, but by the blessings of God. 'The Lord has helped us every step of the way.' I Samuel 7:12" An Ebenezer Stone was erected in the mall area between the Library and Administration Building for this occasion, with the inscription, “In gratitude for God’s unending faithfulness, the LCU Board of Trustees places this Ebenezer stone and dedicates this university to His purposes. The LCU Board of Trustees held a dedication ceremony this morning to thank God for His providence since the beginning of the university, and to petition for His continued blessings for LCU’s future.
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