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It is easy to forget what God has done for you. Life moves fast, new problems arise, and the faithfulness He showed you last year can feel distant when you are facing something hard today. But throughout Scripture, God's people built altars, piled up stones, and created physical reminders so they would never forget. These acts of remembrance were not just rituals; they were visible reminders of their history with God. This has been a big part of our "Now Live" theme this year. Are we a church that lives in view of our history with God?

Why Do We Forget God's Faithfulness So Easily?

Human memory is short. Even the things that matter most to us can fade over time. The psalmist understood this tension and made a deliberate choice to fight against it.

"I shall remember the deeds of the Lord. Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. I will meditate on all Thy work and muse on Thy deeds. Thy way, O God, is holy. What God is great like our God." - Psalm 77:11-13

Remembering is not passive. It is something you have to choose to do, and it takes intentional effort to keep God's faithfulness in front of you.

What Are the "Rock Piles" in the Bible?

Throughout the Old Testament, God's people built altars as physical memorials of what God had done. These were not elaborate structures. In many cases, they were simply piles of stones stacked together to mark a moment when God showed up.

Here are some Bible accounts where we see this principle.

Noah

After the flood, Noah built an altar to the Lord. God had not commanded it. Noah did it on his own because he understood the importance of marking what God had done.

"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." - Genesis 8:20

God responded by making a covenant, and He gave a sign to go with it: the rainbow.

"I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth... and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh." - Genesis 9:13,15

Every time you see a rainbow, it is an invitation to remember. God made a promise, and He has kept it.

Abram

When God appeared to Abram and promised to give the land to His descendants, Abram built an altar on the spot.

"The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to Him." - Genesis 12:7

Abram did not want to forget the moment God made that promise. The altar was his way of saying, "This happened here. God was here."

Jacob

Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau and stopped to sleep. He used a stone as a pillow. That night, God spoke to Him in a dream and said something remarkable.

"Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." - Genesis 28:15

When Jacob woke up, he took that stone and set it upright as a memorial. A simple rock became a marker of a divine encounter.

Moses 

During a battle against the Amalekites, Moses held His hands up and Israel prevailed. When his arms grew tired, others held them up for him. After the victory, Moses built an altar and gave it a name.

"Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner." - Exodus 17:15

In ancient warfare, a banner marked where the leader was. Soldiers returned to the banner for direction and rallied around it. Moses was declaring that God was their leader, their direction, and their source of victory.

David

David did not have a pile of stones when he faced Goliath. But he had something just as powerful: a memory of God's faithfulness.

"Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." - 1 Samuel 17:36

David looked back at what God had already done and used it as fuel for what He was about to face. He said, in effect, "God delivered me before. He will deliver me again."

This is the power of remembrance. When a new challenge comes, you can look back at your own history with God and say the same thing.

What Are Ebenezer Stones?

The Biblical Origin of the Ebenezer Stone

After God helped Israel defeat the Philistines, the prophet Samuel took a stone and set it up as a memorial.

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.'" - 1 Samuel 7:12

The word Ebenezer literally means "stone of help." It was a physical reminder that God had been faithful up to that point, and the implication was clear: if He helped us this far, He will help us further.

What does this look like today?

An Ebenezer Stone does not have to be a literal rock. It can be anything that calls your memory back to a moment of God's faithfulness. It could be:

  • A physical stone placed somewhere you will see it regularly
  • A Bible verse highlighted that carried you through a hard season
  • A journal entry or a notes app where you record moments of God's provision
  • An old Bible or object that reminds you of a time God brought you through

The point is not the object itself. There is nothing magical about a rock or item. The point is the practice of returning to it and saying, "He was faithful then. He will be faithful now."

Keeping the Testimony

When Joshua led Israel across the flooded Jordan River, God stopped the water. He then instructed one man from each tribe to carry a stone on his shoulder to the other side, where they would build a memorial.

"Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, 'What do these stones mean to you?' then you shall say to them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord... so these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.'" - Joshua 4:6-7

The memorial was not just for the people who crossed. It was for the next generation. If parents stay silent about what God has done in their lives, their children will never know. And if children never hear those stories, they will have no reason to expect that God might show up for them too.

Communion: The Ultimate Act of Remembrance

Jesus Himself instituted the most significant act of remembrance in the Christian faith.

"And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'" - Luke 22:19

Every time communion is taken, it is an Ebenezer moment. It is a declaration that you remember what Jesus did, that His sacrifice was real, and that His faithfulness is the foundation of everything.

The apostle Paul captured the logic of remembrance beautifully when he wrote about God's track record as a reason to trust Him going forward.

"...God, who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us." - 2 Corinthians 1:9-10

Past deliverance is evidence of future faithfulness. When you remember what God has done, you are not just looking backward. You are building confidence for what lies ahead.

Life Application

This week, create your own Ebenezer. Find a stone, write a verse on a notecard, open a notes app on your phone, or pull out an old journal. Mark a specific moment when God was faithful to you. Place it somewhere you will see it regularly, and the next time you face something hard, go back to it and say, "He delivered me then. He will deliver me again."

Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:

  • What is one specific moment in my life when God clearly showed up for me, and have I ever truly stopped to mark it?
  • When I face fear or uncertainty, do I instinctively look back at God's faithfulness, or do I forget what He has already done?
  • If I have children or younger believers in my life, am I telling them the stories of how God has helped me? What would it look like to start?
  • What would change about how I face my current struggles if I regularly returned to my own Ebenezer moments?