The Prayer of Jabez
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
9And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bare him with sorrow”.
10And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” And God granted him that which he requested.
Here is,
The reason of his name: his mother gave him the name with this reason, Because I bore him with sorrow, v. 9. All children are borne with sorrow (for the sentence upon the woman is, In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children), but some with much more sorrow than others.
Usually the sorrow in bearing is afterwards forgotten for joy that the child is born; but here it seems it was so extraordinary that it was remembered when the child came to be circumcised, and care was taken to perpetuate the remembrance of it while he lived.
That it might be 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. It may be of use to be often reminded of our sorrows,
Jabez’s name in Hebrew means “pain”! His mother delivered him in great pain and she never let him forget it. She named him Pain so that he would always remember what he had done to his poor mother.
It seems as though Jabez came from a family, with a very out spoken mother.
But in spite of all that, he overcame the obstacles created by his upbringing. The Bible says that he was an honorable man — more honorable than the rest of his family. Why was that?
We find Jabez in a long list of genealogies; it goes on for nine chapters in the book 1Chronicles.
But he is there like a shining star in this long list of anonymous characters. It is significant that what Jabez is remembered for is not some outstanding achievement, but a prayer.
He did not win a great battle or erect a great building. He simply prayed a prayer. But out of all the people in this nine-chapter list of characters, he alone is lifted out because of the prayer that he prayed.
What is so unusual about this prayer? And why have preachers been talking about it for centuries? Why was God pleased enough with his prayer to have it forever recorded in scripture?
His prayer was in four parts: 1) He prayed that God would bless him. 2) He prayed that God would enlarge his territory, or his borders. 3) He prayed that God’s hand would be upon him. 4) He prayed that God would keep him from evil.
1st of all ~Jabez may had remembered Gods promise to father Abraham.
Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Jabez sought the blessing of God that he might be a blessing to the world.
There is nothing wrong with praying for God to bless us, especially if it is for the purpose of being a blessing.
Nether is It wrong to pray for material blessings. If you want to have more so that you can give more, then that is an acceptable prayer.
If you want to be able to give more to missions or an outreach program so that people will come to know Christ, then pray for material prosperity.
If you want wisdom so that you can help other people then pray for wisdom, ~~
~~ James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But if you just want more wealth in order to spend it on yourself, your prayer will probably not be answered.
If you want wisdom so you can feel smarter than other people, your prayer probably want be answered.
If you want success, or want to be a leader, so that you can lord it over others, your prayer will not be answered. But if you want to serve others with more talents and resources, then pray for those things in order that your life may be a blessing.
Jabez also remembered his ancestor Jacob who wrestled with God. When God told him to release him, Jacob said Genesis 32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
And from that point on Jacob entered the Promised Land and prospered so that his descendants blessed the whole world with spiritual blessings.
Through Jacob and his offspring, God’s Messiah came into the world. God wants to bless us, but we have to want the blessing.
It seems as though the churches in this country don’t seek God’s blessing.
We have so much already. We tend to think,
“Well Our plates are so full. That we are too busy to be blessed with anything else. And besides more Blessings means more responsibility. And Serving God by serving people takes time. If God gives us more we’ll have to do more, and I just want to relax.”
A real good sign of a growing Christian is that we have a desire to have our life used by God.
Here in this country it seems that a great number of folks are preoccupation with them selves, we want more, and we want it faster, better and cheaper.
So many people never have a purpose larger than themselves.
This is why Jabez prayed the second part of his prayer:
Jabez prayed that God would enlarge his borders. Jabez was from the tribe of Judah, which was the ruling class among the Hebrews.
To increase his territory meant that his people would have more area to live in and that he would have more people to serve as a leader.
He was not thinking of himself, he was thinking about the welfare of others. A leader is a servant of other people. Jabez wanted to be used by God more than anything else. Is that our prayer and desire? Is there a longing, a passion inside of us, to be used by God no matter what it takes?
Are we living only for ourselves at this time, or do we want God to use our life in this world?
Do we want to be blessed by God in order to be a blessing? Then we need to pray for God to enlarge our life and our sphere of influence.
Ask him for something so big that we cannot possibly do it by ourselves. Ask him to enlarge our territory. There is more to life than trying to make us happy.
Let us be God’s people, being used by Him in a world that needs Him desperately.
In a time of great discouragement, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying, 54:2 2Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
God wants you to see beyond the circumstances. He wants to enlarge your life if you will join him by praying and believing, for his blessing.
The third thing to consider is: Jabez prayed for God’s hand to be upon him. Jabez knew that what he was praying for was bigger than what he could accomplish himself. He was praying for something so big that only the hand of God on his life could accomplish it.
What would you pray for if you knew that you could not fail? Let us pray for the hand of God to be upon our life so that we can accomplish something great for Him.
Hopefully, it will be something so great that when it comes to pass, you and everyone else will have to say, ~~
~~ “This had to be the hand of God, because there is no way I could have done this by myself!”
But the final part of Jabez’s prayer is the most important.
We need to consider the fourth part of his prayer: Jabez prayed that God would keep him from evil.
His name meant pain. He had caused pain, but he did not want to cause any more pain. He wanted his life to be a blessing.
He wanted to be protected from the harm of evil, but he also wanted to be kept from sinning, because he knew that sin causes pain. It brings pain into the world. It brings pain into the life of the one who commits it, and it brings pain into the lives of those whom the sin was committed against. But most of all, sin causes God pain.
The bible tells us what the world was like just prior to the flood in Noah’s day? The Bible says in Genesis 6:5-6 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Sin brings pain to the heart of God. Just think about the cross,
We miss the pain of God in most of our churches. The crosses in most churches, that have a cross showing somewhere in it, is made of polished brass so they sparkle in the light.
And the ladies wear the cross as jewelry.
But the cross was an instrument of torture. Sin caused God real pain. Even in Christian art He is often pictured on the cross, but his body is clean and his head is lifted toward heaven with a look of peace on his face.
But the real crucifixion was much different. He was naked and Roman whips had shred the flesh, there were deep bruises from the beatings.
The painful crown of thorns caused blood from his head to stream down his body.
But all of that was nothing compared to the moment God poured out upon him the sin of the whole world and separated himself from the Son.
Sin causes pain. David said, Psalm 119:1111Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Jesus taught us to pray the prayer of Jabez when he prayed, matt.6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
If a person thinks he can get by with sin without there being pain in their own personal life, they are mistaken.
It will be like a cancer eating its way through our life. It will strip us of God’s blessing and destroy our effectiveness.
It will tear apart our relationships and leave us very alone. It will leave us beaten, and it will alienate us from God.
Let us pray that we will be kept from evil and from the pain it inflicts.
And then we will experience the blessing of God and feel his hand upon our life. God is in the blessing business, for he says to us today, Psalm 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
We as born again children of God can ask Him any thing we care to, and if its His will He will give it to us.
Many of our prays are not always answered the way we would like for them to be, but let us all ways remember, He knows what’s best for us in the long haul of it all .
