Luanne Oleas presented the following story in Reader’s Digest:
When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.
That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s.
At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?"
He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."
Names are curious things. We pick them so carefully for our children. Or at least I hope we do. Well, some of us do.
Our Bible story is about a man named Jabez. In Bible times, names were very important. Biblical names indicated what would happen or become of a person, or indicated their character.
Abraham means “father of many.”
Jacob means “he deceives.”
Reuben means “Look, a son!”
Moses means “I drew him out of the water.”
And sometimes a person’s name was changed when a major event changed the whole life of a person.
Jacob, whose name meant “he deceives,” had his name changed by the angel of the Lord to Israel, which means “struggle with God.”
Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which means “rock,” and on this “rock” Jesus began his church.
So biblical names were significant.
Well, Jabez’s name means “pain.”
What a name to have. His mother named him “pain” because his birth was a painful one. Apparently more so than usual, because his mother commemorated the fact in his name.
Poor Jabez.
Identified in such a way, he was meant to be a born looser. His crime appears to be that he had been born, and through no fault of his own, had caused his mother great pain.
With such a name, his life should not have been a success. Jabez had been identified as someone who would be unsuccessful. Jabez was identified as...well, as a pain.
Ironically, Jabez has been a pretty famous guy of late. Perhaps you are familiar with the book written about him by Bruce Wilkinson. Now let me tell you, I have not read the book. If what I have heard is correct, Wilkinson first became intrigued by Jabez, because his short narrative interrupts a long strain of genealogy here in the first book of Chronicles. That the author of Chronicles felt Jabez’s life was noteworthy to interrupt his record of detail to insert this brief look at Jabez’ life is noteworthy to Wilkinson.
I’m not sure if my exploration of Jabez’s short tale will echo Wilkinson’s or not, since as I said, I have not read his book. But I thought we would take a look at this infamous character and his prayer life, as we look at our commitment to prayer.
When I reflect on Jabez, I am first drawn to how his name and situation parallels our own.
We too are born into a world of pain. The world seems to have set us up for failure. We are all “born losers” and we have a great knack for making a mess of things.
But it is not Jabez’s short comings that are so remarkable to our author.
What is most notable about Jabez, is that he was more honorable and distinguished than his brothers. Now why is this? Well his life which appeared to have no future became a success story. What changed his situation?
Well here’s what he didn’t do:
He could have turned bitter and angry towards his name and situation. He could have blamed his mother and perhaps the world his assigned lowly place.
Or he could have blamed himself. He could have given up and accepted his fate.
Or he could have taken the weight of the world on his shoulders. He could have become self-centered and self-absorbed in order to change his situation.
But he didn’t.
No, Jabez turned to God in prayer.
“He was the one.” the Bible tells us, “who prayed.”
What his mother called him was countered by him calling on God in prayer.
And this is what he prayed:
"Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!"
Jabez asked God to bless him. He asked God to contribute to his contentment, well being, and prosperity. To ask for a blessing is to ask to be consecrated and made holy. Did you know that? I looked up the word “bless” in the dictionary. Did you know that the “bless” originally meant to be consecrated by blood to be made holy?
By asking for God to bless him, Jabez was asking for God to set him apart and make him holy. Jabez was asking to be identified as belonging to God.
Secondly, Jabez asks for God to enlarge his territory. In some ways, this causes us some problems and makes us feel uncomfortable. It sounds like Jabez is asking God to give him things - essentially to make him more wealthy, and it is true that it is exactly what Jabez is doing. But there’s more to it than that.
It has to do with two basic Jewish understandings. The first is if a person does bad, then a person will get bad things or results. However, if a person does good, then Jewish understanding was a person would get good things and good results. If God answered Jabez’s prayer as he has asked, then Jabez’s understanding is that he has found favor in God’s eyes. He has done the right things. This would also be the understanding of the writer who recorded Jabez’s story.
Secondly, is the relationship of the Jewish individual to the land. Perhaps recent events in our country has helped us to relate to this understanding a bit better. The land of Canaan wasn’t just a homeland, a country in which one is born and has loyalty.
The land is deeply tied to God’s promise of prosperity. One needed the land to survive. The land provided for livelihood and basic necessities. The land was a gift from God and a means through which one received God’s salvation.
However, the keeping of the land came with certain responsibilities and obligations. One must remain faithful to God in order to keep the land. One must follow God’s ways. And one must use the land faithfully, giving back in right portion and measure the fruits from the land, be it animal or vegetable in nature. And the land owner was responsible for the care of his fellow Israelites who had less than he. A wealthy land owner had responsibilities for the widow and orphan as understood by the Jewish faith. It wasn’t just a civic responsibility, it was a question of faithfulness. For Jabez to ask for more territory, is to ask for more responsibility to faithfully handle God’s gifts.
Perhaps we perceive it as not right to ask for material possessions from God because we really mean we want it without the work and responsibility that goes with it. But it is not what we ask for, but what we intend to do with it that matters.
And enlarged territory for Jabez meant greater responsibility and required a closer relationship with God in order to faithfully handle what God gives to him.
And a closer relationship with God is the next thing Jabez prays for.
“Be with me.” he prays.
How often do we do that? How often do we ask God to be with us? And how often do we really mean it?
We ask God to be with us, but we really mean, “when we need a hand,” or, “when I am scared,” or, “when things are going bad.”
Oh, those are all times we certainly want God to be with us, but isn’t it a different thing entirely to invited God to be with us all the time - to say, “Lord be with me when I am thinking of acting in anger, being unfaithful to my partner, am about to steal from my company.” “Lord, be with me when I am about to hurt someone else.” “Lord be with me when I begin to stray from your side, am about to forget about your presence in my life. Lord, be with me when I am turning from being obedient to you to be disobedient.”
But that’s the kind of “be with me” Jabez had in mind, for his next words are, “keep me from harm so I will not be in pain.” Its something we often ask for - “Lord keep me from harm.”
Harm is the kind of thing that catches us off guard when we’re not ready. Harm is the kind of thing we unconsciously believe will happen to someone else, but not to us. Harm is the kind of thing we don’t deserve.
But harm is also done in the messes we make for ourselves. Harm is the kind of thing we do to one another and fool ourselves into believing that no one gets hurt. Harm is the kind of thing that separates us from God’s love and presence.
Its more than just physical danger. Harm comes in big ways we recognize but also in more subtle ways, in ways we pretend not to see, and even in ways we actively pursue.
Harm is what we come to when we pursue desires of our sinful nature. Their evil results are noted in the 5th chapter of Galatians. They are sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, and division between ourselves.
“Yes, Lord, keep us from harm, so that we will not be in pain from these evil results of our sinful nature. Keep us from harm, Lord, and fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that our life may be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Lord, keep us from harm so that we will not be in pain.”
This is the prayer of Jabez:
Lord, bless me,
enlarge my territory,
be with me,
& keep me from harm so I will not be in pain.
Pain - a prayer to not be what his name has identified him to be, but to be someone entirely different in a relationship with God.
Notice that our writer tells us God granted his request. God answered his prayer. In fact, God answered it so well, that we remember Jabez today because his life was so different than what we could say had been predetermined for him or at least expected for him.
You see, the moral of our story is that prayer changes things. This is what’s most noteworthy of Jabez’s prayer. This is why Jabez’s life stood out to our chronicler. This is what we learn from the life of Jabez.
Certainly this is not all there is to pray. This is not all there is to ask for, but as we look at making commitments in our personal prayer lives, a prayer such as Jabez’s, that invites God to be an intricately woven part of our lives:
bless me, let me do more for you, be with me so that I may be more faithful to you...
What a wonderful place to start.
A life of prayer - as demonstrated in the way Jabez prayed, seeking a closer relationship with God - changes things, changes everything, changes life itself.
What would it be like for us to pray such a prayer? How would each of our lives be changed? Are we brave and bold enough to ask for and embrace such a transformation in who we are into who we can be?
Are we brave enough to pray:
“Lord, here I am, help me to belong to you, help me to be your servant. Lord let me do more for you. Be with me. Help me to be faithful. Help me to stay close by your side, because Lord, I want my life to be used by you so that I can be the faithful disciple you call me to be.”
Tonight we reflect on our prayer life. We look at our commitments with the invitation to grow one step. Some of us are just beginning to climb the ladder. Some of us are further along the way.
As we prepare to climb the next step, are you brace enough to begin by praying this prayer? Are you brave enough for this prayer to be a part of your prayer life on a regular, even daily basis?
As we make our commitments to pray, consider the prayer of Jabez. And as we look to the commitments ahead, will you begin with your prayer commitment, and will you begin with a prayer for God to help you to grow as a faithful disciple?
This is my invitation to you.
