Honor From God Series

Honor from God

We read in Psalm 91:15, “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” (ESV)

In continuation with our study on Psalm 91, we will consider the life of a man named Jabez, to comprehend how the Lord can deliver us and honor us from all our hardships.

Jabez was birthed in pain

We read in 1 Chronicles 4:9,Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” (ESV)

This portion of scripture records the life of a man named Jabez, whose mother it seems birthed him with much pain. We are not sure what caused her such anguish, but must have been so intense because she decided to name her son ‘Jabez’ which meant ‘borne in pain’. Generally women go through a lot of pain during labor, but when the baby is born, they immediately forget all of the agony, at the joy of beholding their new born baby. However, strangely, Jabez’s mother seemed to have been unable to overcome the pain and decided to call her son by the painful experience she had gone through.

In John 16:21we read,“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (ESV)

This was not the case for Jabez as his mother passed on the pain she bore onto her son, which lingered on with him for life. There may be those who may have experienced such slurs and jeering from those who take pleasure in calling others by nicknames, instead of their real ones. This kind of name calling gives immense pain to the one who is the victim of such abuse. Jabez too may have gone through such situations, having been named as one who brought pain or sorrow even from birth.

As children of God we must be reminded that when people humiliate us or deride us, others may not be aware of the pain we go through, but the Lord who sees deep within, is mindful of all our hurts.

Joseph was jeered by his brothers

The brothers of Joseph scoffed at him and called him a ‘dreamer’ because of his many dreams. Nonetheless, we know that the Lord was with Joseph and God lifted him to become the most prominent person in the land of Egypt and He did fulfill all of Joseph’s dreams too.

Though some people have beautiful names, there are those who find cheap pleasure in tagging others with nicknames. For those who have gone through such painful experiences, be certain that the Lord sympathizes with you and just like Joseph the Lord will elevate you if you trust in Him. There are also situations where our good deeds can be misinterpreted and misconstrued by those around and these too can be quite distressing to handle.

Job was mocked by his friends

Look at the life of Job, who when in a state of complete brokenness, was surrounded by friends who came with the intention to comfort him and ended up hurting him even more.

We read about this in Job 16:20, “My friends mock me, while my eyes overflow with tears to God,” (ISV)

In the midst of his agony and scorn from his own friends, Job poured out his heart to the Lord. His eyes overflowed with tears and the outcome was that in perfect time, God restored everything back to Job double-fold. God was mindful of all that Job had to undergo from his friends and the word of God records that God was indignant with Job’s friends for their insults hurled at Job. This wrath of God was turned away from Job’s friends only after Job pleaded to God on their behalf.

When people humiliate us, instead of being overwhelmed by it, we must learn to petition our case to the Lord just as Job did. The outcome of such surrender is the fact that God will intervene to fight on our behalf and raise us up above our adversaries.

Jabez was honored

Jabez too must have gone through much grief on account of his name, both from his family and those around him. He may have been the object of scorn to many, but let us see how Jabez surmounted these challenges.

We read in 1 Chronicles 4:9, “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers” (ESV)

In the book of 1 Chronicles 4 there is a detailed genealogy of the family of Judah and tucked in between is this testimony about Jabez, before continuing on with the genealogy again. The only noteworthy person in that entire list is Jabez. There was an honor that Jabez had despite all his circumstances. This honor also made him more prominent than all his brothers.