Buried in 1 Chronicles among collections of genealogies is a gem that rocks my world each time I visit. The passage is not easy to read with its lists of hard-to-pronounce-names often belonging to people not mentioned elsewhere in the pages. Just when I think I will fall asleep Jabez jumps up. He isn’t tied to a particular family, but God’s Spirit directed that Jabez’s short story be included. And it is ripe with meaning.
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 NASB
That’s it. Just two verses. All we know about him.
Jabez’s mother named him “sorrow maker,” perhaps in reference to a difficult birth. Matthew Henry in his commentary writes that the name may have been chosen as a “continual memorandum to herself, to be thankful to God as long as she lived for supporting her under and bringing her through that sorrow.”
What did Jabez do with that name? Did he pursue a life of crime, live up to his moniker, and heap more pain on his mother? Jabez grew up and stood up, on his own two feet. We aren’t given details but Scripture states that he outpaced his brothers and earned the commendation that “he was more honorable” than they. And the man knew a thing or two about hard-hitting condensed prayers. He left a treasure that astounds the reader. Let’s remind ourselves of that prayer.
Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.
1 Chronicles 4:10 NASB
Jabez addressed his prayer to the “God of Israel” and thereby expressed the relationship that was his by covenant promises. God has filled the Bible with promises about prayer. I read these words earlier in the day and gave thanks.
I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Psalms 116:1-2 KJV
Do we claim those prayer promises? And do we pray like we belong before God’s throne? Do we conduct our prayer lives with awareness that we are children of the King? Jabez certainly did as he made four simple requests.
Oh that You would bless me indeed
Jabez did not present God with a list of items ordered by importance. He handed God his “blessing box” and asked God to fill it. God can do that. God has unlimited knowledge and resources. When I bring my grocery list of requests to God I operate from pride as I assume that I know what I need better than God knows what I need. Jabez determined to allow God to decide what belonged in the box.
What constitutes a blessing in my life? We each must answer that for ourselves. Contracting an illness with continued longterm effects was never on my list, but God chose that for me. He determined in love that the struggle would bless me in ways I could not imagine. I have wrestled angrily with His choice as I am certain that my continued usefulness in His kingdom work has been destroyed. What was He thinking?
To make a commitment like Jabez, to pray and ask God to bless as He sees fit, implies unwavering faith in Him. We must be confident in God’s plan and God’s choices. Do I trust God enough to say, “Lord, give me what is best in your eyes for me and my family. Bless me as you see appropriate!”
Jabez did!
Enlarge my border
Jabez asked God to prosper his endeavors and expand his sphere of influence. Is that a proper request for a believer? What about the teaching James gave on misdirected prayers?
You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:2-3 NASB
The context in 1 Chronicles indicates that Jabez’s request was one which God could honor so what exactly was the man asking? Jabez was not on an ego trip or in pursuit of personal profit. He asked God for opportunities. This servant of God wanted to expand his influence to others, to help them meet the God of Israel and in turn receive His blessings.
Paul wrote about opportunities and our need to take advantage of them.
So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Galatians 6:10 NASB
Can we ask God for those opportunities? “Lord, please bring someone across my path today that I can speak a word of encouragement to. Let me bump into someone who I can help with the resources you’ve entrusted to me. And as I gain experience in recognizing these openings help me become more proficient at taking full advantage of them for Your glory.”
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 NASB
That Your hand might be with me
The Corinthian church enjoyed the ministry of many famous preachers, and Paul addressed that congregation’s tendency to divide into warring camps with each touting their minister as the best. Paul expressed reality in these words.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6 NASB
No matter how many opportunities open before us Christian ministry fizzles without God’s hand. Jabez understood that the only way forward required cooperation with the Divine purpose while being surrounded by Divine power.
On our wedding night forty plus years ago Shawn and I adopted a verse as our “life verse.” This one came from Solomon’s pen rather than that of his father, David.
Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Psalms 127:1 NASB
In a similar vein Jesus shared a New Testament expression of the same truth in gardening terms.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 NASB
What do we receive when we submit to God’s hand?
- Guidance
- Direction
- Provision
- Protection
- Discipline
- Strength
- Healing
- Love
Why would we want to solo? Moses understood the importance of God’s presence. As he dealt with the devastation caused by Israel’s golden calf episode Moses stood between God and Israel (Exodus 33). He stated bluntly:
Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
Exodus 33:15 NASB
Jabez got it, too. If God is not superintending our efforts we might as well forget it.
That You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me
Depending on the translation of Scripture in hand the word harm may also be rendered as evil. The word, according to Strong’s Concordance, denotes adversity, affliction, calamity, distress, evil, grief, hurt, mischief, misery, sorrow, trouble, vexation, wickedness, wretchedness, or wrong.
Evil begins as thoughts and spreads quickly to words and actions. Refer to God Hates the Seven Nasties for a deeper description of evil. Jabez understood that evil, originated on his part or generated toward him by another, would cause grief. Pain. And his name was a reminder of that sorrow.
When someone prays for the things Jabez sought Satan notices. Nothing spiritually positive happens in our lives without the dark forces uniting to stop progress. Satan targets individuals and desires to divide and conquer families and churches. And he is insidiously persistent. For a deeper dive on his strategy consult the book, Unmasking Satan.
Jabez asked God for four items, and 1 Chronicles 4:10 ends with this blessed thought, “And God granted him what he requested.”
Wow! May I learn to pray in a way that honors God and accesses the bounty of blessings and resources He yearns to make available to me. You and I are privileged to serve the same God as Jabez. God waits to bless, to enlarge, to be with us, and to keep us from evil.
All we have to do is ask. God delights in answering such prayers.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash