Maybe there are some things that, again, we want to bring with us from the last year and carry them forward into this new year. So what does this word hitherto mean?
And again, it’s an interesting point because it literally means up to this point or thus far until now. So we’re going to look at hitherto looking back. We’re going to look at hitherto trusting now and hitherto for the hope ahead.
In Streams of the Desert, and it talked about hitherto being a word like an avenue. You know when you go to some places, you see the line of trees down a street, and you just see these trees going on and on and on, and then you can get so far as you’re walking down, and you look back, and you just see as many line of trees behind you as you do ahead of you. And that’s basically what hitherto means, because Samuel didn’t say, We’ve arrived. He didn’t say after the victory against the philistines We did it. We got it. We’ve arrived. He just said we have been Helped so at the beginning of this new year hitherto. I want us to look forward and also To look back to remember how the lord has helped us in the past year for some of us the past year is something that we are so glad to be over I’m glad that’s done. I’m glad. I don’t want to ever go through 2025 again. That’s done. So let’s move forward.
For some, we might look back at 2025 and think, oh, I’m glad this happened. I’m glad that happened. I want to make sure that more of this takes place in the year ahead. So we can look back and remember what God has done. How he helped us in some of those rough times. And then we can also look forward to see what the Lord is going to do for us in the year ahead. So at the beginning of the new year, we’re going to look forward, and we’re going look back, remember who carried us, remember who sustained us, and remember who preserved us, and persevered with us, and helped us, and guided us, and was there in the times when we felt like our world was literally falling apart.
So we read 1 Samuel chapter 7 and our text verse, the verse, we’re going to look at all of the verses that we read today, but the verse we’re going to focus on towards the end is verse 12. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
The sermon centres on the profound truth of ‘hitherto’—a call to remember God’s faithfulness in the past as a foundation for confident hope in the future.
Drawing from 1 Samuel 7, it emphasizes that true spiritual renewal begins not with strategy or strength, but with repentance, brokenness, and surrender, as seen in Israel’s removal of idols and pouring out of water as a symbol of complete yielding. The narrative reveals that victory follows intercession, not military might, as God responded to Israel’s cries with divine intervention, demonstrating that spiritual breakthroughs often provoke spiritual opposition.
The construction of the Ebenezer stone—’Thus far the Lord has helped us’—serves as a lasting spiritual marker, teaching that remembrance is not nostalgia but a vital discipline that stabilizes faith and fuels courage for the days ahead. The message affirms that God’s help is both sufficient for every trial and ongoing, inviting believers to trust in His unchanging faithfulness as they enter the new year with renewed dependence and expectation.
The sermon centres on the profound truth of ‘hitherto’—a declaration of God’s faithfulness throughout past trials, particularly illustrated through the storm-tossed sailors in Psalm 107. It emphasizes that God’s presence and power are most evident not in the calm, but in the midst of life’s storms, which are not signs of abandonment but of divine sovereignty and purpose.
The message underscores that storms, though terrifying and disorienting, are designed to dismantle self-reliance and drive believers to genuine dependence on God, culminating in a cry for help that leads to deliverance. Far from being a sign of failure, reaching ‘wit’s end’ is the necessary threshold for divine intervention, and the proper response to God’s deliverance is not just gratitude, but a public testimony of His goodness.
Ultimately, the sermon calls the us to trust God’s ongoing faithfulness, knowing that if He brought us through past storms, He will bring us through every storm yet to come.
The sermon centres on the profound truth of God’s sustaining grace, embodied in the Hebrew word ‘hitherto’—a testimony that God has carried His people through every trial up to this moment, not because of their strength or merit, but solely by His mercy.
Drawing from Lamentations 3, it affirms that remembering suffering does not require denial of pain, but rather leads to humility and hope when anchored in God’s unchanging faithfulness. The message emphasizes that divine compassion never fails, is renewed daily, and is sufficient even in weakness, failure, and despair, offering confidence for the future not based on our performance but on God’s steadfast character.
Ultimately, believers are called to rest in God’s provision, to wait on Him with trust rather than self-reliance, and to recognize that every breath, every step forward, and every moment of endurance is a gift of grace—both for the past and for the year ahead.