The world is full of people just like the ones that we just read about. Of the names we just read they were probably good people, upstanding citizens, and probably great to hang out with.
However, we probably would never even have read their names, if it hadn’t been for Jabez and his memorable prayer that he prayed. Those names probably would have been forgotten about, and maybe not even mention, but not because they were not good people, But because they never did anything memorable with their lives for the Lord.
However, when we look at Jabez, Jabez was different, he was willing to lay his petition before the Lord, and he didn’t just lay it down, but he lay it down and left it there and trusted God, no matter what the outcome was to be because he knew he could trust God with the results.
Someone might say lay what down, what did he lay down?
He laid everything that he had down;
All his hopes
All his desires
All his dreams and ambitions
Everything he possessed, everything he ever hoped to be, he
placed in the hands of God.
As we look at this in vs. 9 it tells us that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez, saying, because she bore him in pain.
But what got me is when it said he was more honorable than his brothers is quite a statement that God had penned about Jabez.
He was more honorable than any of the names mentioned in the first 9 chapters of Chronicles, because he did something that was worth remembering. What he did do Pastor that was so amazing that God called him more honorable.
Vs. 10. And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain,” And because of that God granted him what he requested.
What Jabez did, he put his total trust in God’s capabilities. You see the problem today is that so many today, are willing to only rely on their self-effort alone, self-gain and self-support to get them where they want to go in life. And the sad thing is they always think self-effort will get them there, but they never arrive.
And even when they have been unsuccessful at doing it for a lifetime. Even when they know the outcome, before the end result, most people still think they can do a better job, than God can. In fact, they are so busy focused on what they can’t do, instead of being focused of what God can do.
I want to encourage somebody this morning that we ought to give God the opportunity. And if God can’t do it, it can’t be done. (Pause)
What we had learned about this passage is that Jabez called on God and then he waited on God, whether it was 5 minutes, or 5 years Jabez waited. And Isaiah reminded us that waiting is important. Isaiah 40:31 tells us “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; that means that in our waiting we will soar when the time come. They that wait, they shall run, and not be weary; which means that we can run the race with patience’s, and they shall walk, and not faint.” which means that they can take their time and won’t pass out. But we must learn to wait.
What Jabez realized is that he would never, be able to achieve his dreams and ambitions on his own, but the moment he sought God, the moment that he lifted up his voice, the moment that he petition God, God heard his prayer and God responded to his faith.
And I need to tell somebody here this morning that God will do the same thing for whoever calls out to Him in faith and believe that God will do just what he said that he would do.
Watch him show up, watch him make provisions, watch him take care of the situations. No matter how long it takes, I’m here to encourage somebody to wait on God.
If we would just think back on Matthew 9:20-22 when the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years slipped in from behind and touched Jesus' robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well. I heard that Jesus turned and said somebody touched me and when he realizes who it was. Jesus right then he reassured her to be encourage, daughter. Because you took a risk of faith, because you step out on faith, you can expect a miracle. And I heard from that point on the woman was healed from that disease.
Now my 1st question is did Jesus heal her when she was just thinking to herself about touching His robe, because I’m sure she had thought about being healed and set free from her affliction for 12 long years, or did He heal her, when she released her faith, and reached out to Jesus capabilities, instead of her own.
12 long agonizing yrs., 4,380 days of maybe I’ll find an answer or solution tomorrow.
And my 2nd question why had she waited so long? Why does anyone wait so long to turn to God? Because in the very moment that she touched him, at that very moment that she stretched out her faith she was healed. When she changed her thinking from her capabilities to His power, she was made whole.
In other words: Somebody ought to know that we can’t, but God can. Too many of us focus on our circumstances, instead of the one who can change their situation! (repeat again)
GOD IS A I CAN GOD. tell your neighbor that he is an I can God.
I remember as I was reading on the other day about David. How he had left his shepherding responsibilities, when he was taking his brothers something to eat on the battlefield. Where David hears Goliath defying God, These are the first words David spoke, not just in the battle, but in the Bible.
Its no wonder, God said he was a man after his own heart.
Because In 1st Sam. 17:26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
And what we see is that all of Israel is only talking about what they can’t do. But David shows up and the first thing he says is, God Can.
In this situation, the soldiers mentioned nothing of God, his brothers never spoke his name, and the whole nation was in fear. But David takes one step into the arena and first thing that he does, is raised the subject of the living God.
No one else is thinking about God’s capabilities.
No one else acknowledge the power of God.
No one else confesses the supremacy of God.
I can see him saying don’t you remember how God;
Set you free by splitting the red sea,
How he fed you every day for 40 years,
And how he made the walls fall down flat at Jericho, don’t you all remember the miracle working capabilities of God!
The sad thing is, they knew all these things, but they couldn’t even see God, because they were letting Goliath block their view.
David is thinking about nothing else but, God’s capabilities.
David knows he can’t beat this giant of a man himself, but he also knows, It’s not about what he can do, but it’s all about what God Can Do, if someone will just have faith and give God the opportunity to do it.
There are situations in everyone’s life in which God is just waiting to respond to, the moment someone is ready to call out in faith. God is ready to answer.
1st Sam 17:45 MSG.
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
David called on the Great God of Israel and God granted him what he asked of him. All of Israel saw the favor of God, on David that day.
David went on to become, one of the greatest warriors Israel would ever have and ultimately, he became the King as well. It’s because he lay everything down before God and he left it there. His whole life was affected, shaped and defined by that one event. When he laid it on the line, trusted God and left the results up to God. and let me reassure somebody this morning that one moment in the favor of God can change any one’s life, who is willing to leave it in the hands of the Lord. I really didn’t mean to go that far into David, but it got good to me. In fact, anytime that I think about how good God is, I just get happy.
1st Chrn. 2:13-15 NKJ.
13. Jesse begot Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, 14. Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15. Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh.
But if you notice nobody recalls the names of David’s 6 brothers either. In fact, anytime this story is told I never heard anyone talk about his brothers. But because David had the faith to trust God for the impossible, he because a man after God’s own heart.
If the truth were told, we all have the same opportunities to trust God and do as David did, to do as the woman with the issue of blood did, and to do as Jabez did.
And I know that the accuser will try his best, to make it hard for every trial that will ever come up against you.
I know that the devil will try to make mountains out of every molehill if you let him.
And I know that circumstances will always try to dictate the out-come of every situation in our lives, if we let them.
But here is what God has to say on the subject. God says no matter what you are going through, no matter what you are dealing with, and no matter what shows up in your life, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised.
God says I know what I’m doing, and I know the plans that I have for you.
I have all of the plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. But we have to call and wait on the Lord.
That’s Jerm. 33:3 says it like this ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, when you finally lay it all down at my feet and leave it there then I will move.
So it is said in 1st Chronicles 4:10 10. And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.”
You see His name was Jabez, whose name meant “pain.” Apparently, his mother had given him this name for one of two reasons: either because his birth had caused her so much pain or because she viewed the world as being a place of suffering and pain. So, she named her son Jabez (pain) to symbolize the world into which he was being born, and because of that, he should expect a life of trouble and suffering.
But to overcome the stigma of his name, and perhaps the suffering of his mother and family, Jabez learned to pray. He prayed so much that he became known as a man of prayer, and his prayer life set him apart as being honorable and distinguished, far more so than his brothers.
The boldness of his prayer, and the fact that his prayer was for himself.
Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Please Lord enlarge my coast, and keep your hand on me, Lord keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested.
Because God will hear and answer prayer.
And what I love about God is “God has editing rights over our prayers. He will hear them and then he will... edit them, correct them, bring them in line with His will and then hand them back to us to be resubmitted.
So, God granted him what he requested.
I don’t want to end up like David and Jabez brothers? And not be honorable in the sight of God but I want to take everything that I have and lay it down at the feet of God and leave it there.
Now I understand the song take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.
I now understand the song I’m going to lay down my burdens down by the riverside and I ain’t going to study war no more.
Can I tell somebody that if you are willing to lay it down.
God will hear your request and he will respond.
If you lay them down the Lord will be your provider
If you would just lay it down my God will take good care of you.
But you’ve got to lay it down.
