We sat down to our most extravagant meal, but all of us were in quite a sober mood. It was one of the Navy’s World War II “battle meals,” a kind of celebration just before an impending invasion. Our ship had drawn a suicide mission.

We got through the assignment without harm, but the thought of it put a decided damper on our dinnertime joy. Many people today are in the same condition. They really have no reason to smile. Judgment, spiritual calamity is just ahead of them.

Only the relief which God can give can bring back a Christian’s joy in Christ Jesus.

Israel once learned the way to release from the stress of spiritual confusion and calamity, of inner bondage.

Turn to First Samuel 4 and you will see them crushed in battle at a place called Ebenezer. “The slaughter was very great;…The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died,” verses 10 and 11.

Other tragedies quickly followed. Soon the old priest Eli lay dead and the newly widowed daughter-in-law died in child birth. In her dying agony she named the baby “Ichabod,” a name meaning that “glory is departed from Israel.”

Now look at chapter 7 of I Samuel. What a contrast! We find Israel is now the conqueror. And a stone is set up there by the prophet Samuel. He calls it “Ebenezer,” which means “stone of help.” And he explains, “Thus far has the Lord helped us,” verse 12. Either this battle took place at the same location as the other or else it was so named as to contrast the victory with the earlier defeat.

Notice the contrast. First they are crushed, while God remains silent overhead. And next, they are lifted by the very arm of God Almighty into glorious conquest. God literally thunders against their enemy and delivers them.

What made the difference? The same thing that will make the difference between inner defeat and glad release even today.

There is a way to turn your Ichabod into an Ebenezer! Are you interested in knowing what moves you must make? There are three. Here they are.

I. PUT AWAY THE OFFENSIVE THING

With their strength gone and glory departed the Hebrews felt deep despair. The ark — that holy chest which rested in the most sacred place of their worship center — had been captured by the Philistines. “And all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord.”  I Samuel 7:2.

Has your individual life come to that? Even sacred worship and prayer is hollow, empty. Now, you have been awakened to see the desperate state into which you have slipped. Then hear the instruction God’s man Samuel gives Israel:

“If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines,” verse 3.

Have you faced your idolatry? Turn to God now in prayer, let Him go with you into the cellar of your life. What is that thing — a habit, a wrong love, a lust, ambition, drive — of which He simply cannot approve? Will you now pray in the name of Jesus Christ for enlightenment and help to be entirely honest? This is the crucial step. To refuse God’s direction here, is to fail altogether and be lost. Pray over I Corinthians 6:9, 10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-6.

“So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only,” verse 4.

II. GIVE YOURSELF TO GOD

Read what Israel does next in verse 6. They gather to the Lord in a time of prayer and fasting. Then they draw water and pour it out “before the Lord,” signifying their solemn devotion to God. With earnest hearts they confess, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now, they are his – entirely His. This must include your emotional, mental and body activities.

If you wish to be spiritually renewed, released from sin and inner oppression, you must make this definite move toward God.

However, all will still be lost if one thing more is left undone.

III. PRESENT THE LAMB

I suppose most Christians have experienced a parallel to what happened next to God’s weakened Hebrew people. “When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines,” verse 7.

Just as we are seeking spiritual revival and attempting to give ourselves afresh to God, we experience a gathering threat of even worse defeat.

A most peculiar thing now occurs. Instead of a call to arms and strenuous exertion, Samuel takes hold of a little lamb and prepares an altar on which to offer it as a burnt offering before God. This will make absolutely no sense unless you have first understood John 1:29 where Jesus is presented to the world as the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. He is the chosen substitute to die in our place, taking our penalty for sin. The way of the blood offering is God’s way of putting away sin and relieving us of all guilt. Once sin is cleared away, God rolls up His sleeve and is ready to stand up for His children. Watch out, you enemies!

Read it. “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites,” verse 10. Israel then presses the battle, subduing the Philistines, recovering long-lost ground, “and there was peace,” verses 13, 14. Samuel then raises up the stone marker and “named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us,” verse 12.

There is God’s battle plan. But first, the important thing is to grasp the connection between the thunder of God’s delivering power and the quiet, dying lamb. Study Revelation 12:11. See there the weapons which believers can use to overcome our great enemy Satan. Notice, too, that he is called the “accuser of our brothers and sisters” in the preceding verse. How many Christians are badgered and pulled apart within their spirit until they have no strength nor confidence left.

To break the back of the assault you must claim full forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s blood. Read carefully Hebrews 10:12-24 and Romans 8:31-39, and make your claim in definite prayer.

CONCLUSION

Here then are the moves you must make if you would throw off long-standing inner defeats: 1. Put away the offensive thing. 2. Give yourself to God. 3. Present the Lamb.

Next, immediately offer praise to our God for His goodness to you. Continue holding to His promises in faith, resisting dark moods. Express His love to others. And, a new day will dawn for you!