Memorials or Mile Markers?

“Samuel took a single rock and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He name it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying “This marks the place where God helped us.”” (1 Samuel 7:12 NLT)

I’ve been thinking about altars since last Sunday, when the Lord implored me erect my own crude altar mid-service. I’d finally come to terms with our plot-twist and the Creator-Sustainer asked me to look back and give thanks. Obedience gave way to wild gratitude as I considered His epic rescue efforts on behalf of our family. I’ve been living on my knees since then, grateful for a fresh start.

I’m beginning to realize there are two types of people: those that build mile markers and those that build memorials. Samuel was an altar-assembler. He was part of a long line of them; Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and Gideon. These men of God all built altars as pausing places. They had learned to recognize when the glory of God had overshadowed their existence.

But the people who occupied Israel in later years didn’t make memorials. No, the Romans built mile markers, instead. They were intent on gaining ground far more than giving pause. They marked their dominion mile by mile, bent on measurable progress.

We can live both ways; pedal to the metal or purposefully pausing from time to time to give God glory. We can put full effort into our own gain: wealth, possessions, and power. Or we can put full effort into connection with our Creator-Sustainer. Only one way leads to truest life.

The mile-marked road is wide, it’s way is easy. The altar-marked road is more of a slow crawl, we don’t gain as much territory as peace about our past and hope for the future.

I read it in my psychology textbook of all places, the truth of it caught my breath a bit: “The same brain regions involved in remembering are important for envisioning, too.” (Douglas A. Bernstein)

It turns out that remembering is essential to envisioning. This is true physiologically but also spiritually. Scripture puts it this way:

“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves, but when they attend to what He reveals, they are most blessed.”
(Proverbs 29:18 MSG)

Sometimes we don’t see God because we forget to look, not because He’s stopped writing in the pages of our story. If we’ll only slow down, if we’ll take the time to consider it, we’ll see that He has been unfolding an elaborate salvation plan since the Garden. It’s clearer now then it has ever been: through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God is restoring humanity to Himself. That’s the plan, everything else is subplot. This is an important perspective for us to maintain. When we attend to His plan, when we pay attention to the way He moves on the earth (historically and immediately), we have vision for the future but we also have joy for today. We are blessed!

“Once again I’ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders, I’ll ponder all the things You’ve accomplished, and give a long, loving look at Your acts.” (Psalm 77:11-12 MSG)

Lord, help us to be memorial makers, not mile markers. So often our culture is consumed with gaining ground when we could be cultivating our connection with You. Help us choose the latter. We want the narrow way, Lord, the one with stops and starts and long pauses for prayerful consideration. May we build altars along pebble-strewn paths rather than super highways without rest-stops. Today we stop and recall Your wondrous acts of salvation. We give You glory for every provision thus far. Amen.