Throwing Old Stuff Away

An ebenezer (“stone of help”) is a marker on a point in time or space (or both) commemorating an intervention by Yahweh that delivered us when we needed His help. It can range in value and influence from a reminder of His greatness to a symbol we worship in our past. Its greatest value would be to prompt us to expect His help in the future. Its greatest cost could be to lure us to long for the past more than for the future.

When Yahweh is done with something, He frequently lets it be swallowed up or washed away or beaten to dust. When He let the Romans destroy on the cross the “temple” that was the body of Jesus, He raised it back up in 3 days. He wasn’t done with it yet.

When 40 years later, He let them destroy the temple that Herod had built, it is still destroyed, and even now has an anti-Christ substitute squatting on the property. The “tabernacle” that David worshiped in will be restored, though (Acts 15:16-18).

Being sensitive to what our God is doing with our old stuff will save us much heartache and can prevent us from protecting something that He is sweeping away. Some people will be swept away with their old stuff because they won’t listen.

What He is going to do today and tomorrow is pretty important. Focus on it, and be ready to leap into something new if He says to. It will be awesome..