{"id":6579,"date":"2019-09-23T09:35:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T14:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heartofgraceministries.com\/blog\/?p=6579"},"modified":"2019-09-03T14:27:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T19:27:19","slug":"safe-thus-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heartofgraceministries.com\/blog\/devotionals\/safe-thus-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe Thus Far"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><strong>I Samuel 7:12<\/strong>, Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, \u201cHitherto hath the Lord helped us.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>God had just delivered Israel from their enemy\u2019s hand and had given victory over the Philistines.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As children of God, we too can say \u201cthus far\u201d the Lord has helped us. The words are like a hand pointing in the direction of the past. No matter the circumstance, the situation, the trial, the temptation \u2014Thus far has the Lord helped us.\u00a0The words \u201cthus far\u201d also point forward. Considering His faithfulness and loving-kindness in the past, we can trust that He will continue to help us because we have not yet come to the end. Because His grace and mercies are sure and everlasting, no matter the battles and toils to come He will never forsake us, and at the very end we will be able to say He has kept us safe thus far.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Memorial Stones at Jordan &#8211; Two Sets of Twelve. When Joshua and the Israelites were crossing over the Jordan River that God parted for them, God told Joshua to have twelve men carry a stone from the river floor over to the other side.There a memorial would be constructed so it would be seen and told how God had brought them across Jordan.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Joshua himself set up twelve stones in the midst of the dry Jordan riverbed where the feet of the priests which carried the ark of the covenant over had stood. Joshua\u2019s act points to Jesus, our great High Priest who gives us the \u201cwhite stone wherein our new name is written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.\u201d (<strong>Revelation 2:17<\/strong>) It cannot be physically seen, but we know it it there in our heart and our soul is safe because of the Holy Ghost. Our salvation is personal- between us and God, like the hidden stones, but through the Holy Spirit others can witness the existence of our salvation and the white stone (Jesus) that has been placed in our hearts- this is grace. One memorial seen &#8211; one unseen. We all have times we can look back on and know it was only the Lord that brought us through that. Like the stones that were visible, this becomes part of our testimony to the keeping power of our God. Others can be encouraged to trust Him in the difficult times through our testimony of God\u2019s faithfulness.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The shepherds of the Alps have a beautiful custom of ending the day by singing an evening farewell to one another. As the sun begins to set, they gather their flocks and begin to lead them down the mountain paths while they sing, \u201cThus far has the Lord helped us. Let us praise His name.\u201d\u00a0Let us call out to one another through the darkness encouraging God\u2019s weary travelers. The Lord who \u201cthus far\u201d has helped you will help you all your journey through.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I Samuel 7:12, Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, \u201cHitherto hath the Lord helped us.\u201d God had just delivered Israel from their enemy\u2019s hand and had given victory over the Philistines. As children of God, we too can say \u201cthus far\u201d &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heartofgraceministries.com\/blog\/devotionals\/safe-thus-far\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[2685,39,2702,2342,2701],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-kay","4":"post-6579","6":"format-standard","7":"category-devotionals","8":"post_tag-devotional","9":"post_tag-god","10":"post_tag-helper","11":"post_tag-protection","12":"post_tag-safe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Safe Thus Far &#8211; Heart of Grace Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heartofgraceministries.com\/blog\/devotionals\/safe-thus-far\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safe Thus Far &#8211; Heart of Grace Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I Samuel 7:12, Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, \u201cHitherto hath the Lord helped us.\u201d God had just delivered Israel from their enemy\u2019s hand and had given victory over the Philistines. 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