Selected Messages Book 3

Chapter 41—Memorials, Are They Proper?

Memorials to Remind Us of Our History

When Israel obtained special victories after leaving Egypt, memorials were preserved of these victories. Moses and Joshua were commanded of God to do this, to build up remembrances. When the Israelites had won a special victory over the Philistines, Samuel set up a commemorative stone and called it Ebenezer, saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). 3SM 320.1

Oh, where, as a people, are our commemorative stones? Where are set up our monumental pillars carved with letters expressing the precious story of what God has done for us in our experience? Can we not, in view of the past, look on new trials and increased perplexities—even afflictions, privations, and bereavements—and not be dismayed, but look upon the past and say, “‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.’ I will commit the keeping of my soul unto Him as unto a faithful Creator. He will keep that which I have committed to his trust against that day. ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be.’”—Manuscript 22, 1889. 3SM 320.2