THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
1st Chronicles 4:9-10
In the year 2000 a little book by Bruce Wilkinson called, "The Prayer of Jabez" was published. It sold over nine million copies and received multiple awards. It spawned a number of other books as well as a line of merchandise. It's popularity started a movement that drew much criticism.
Wikipedia states that the prayer of Jabez became very popular to where some were using it in a repetitive manner. (Matthew 6:7-8, "vain repetitions"). Some took it to excess, using the prayer in an almost superstitious way, believing it to be a sign of health, wealth and prosperity.
The author didn't seem to help the matter by stating in the book, "I challenge you to make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life. To do that, I encourage you to follow unwaveringly the plan outlined here for the next thirty days. By the end of that time, you'll be noticing significant changes in your life, and the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured, lifelong habit." I don't believe God intended the prayer of Jabez to be used quite this way.
But despite the criticisms and negative attention the book generated, overall I thought it was a good read. And it did draw attention to this otherwise overlooked prayer. Because when you see where this prayer is in the bible it's almost as if it were meant to be hidden. It's tucked within the pages of the not-so-popular book of 1st Chronicles and hidden within the confines of an even more unpopular list of names.
So it's no surprise that many people had never heard of Jabez or his prayer before the book came out. The first nine chapters of 1st Chronicles are mainly a genealogy and historical account of Judah. But when you get to chapter four, in this unexciting list of names we find a golden nugget. When the writer gets to Jabez he pauses to provide more than just his name. Let's look at the prayer of Jabez.
1) Jabez made a name for himself (9).
1st Chron. 4:9, "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez sounds like the Hebrew for pain. The word in Hebrew means to grieve. How about carrying that name around with you? "Your name symbolizes what? Pain and grief? Oh, how nice!"
I'm not sure what the pain was that his mother bore him in-physical pain as in a difficult labor or perhaps he was born in a painful period of time. It was supposed that Judah had ongoing battles with the Canaanites so that could be it. So perhaps mom felt bad that she was bringing a child into the world during such troublesome times.
Naming a child based on personal associations was somewhat common. When the angel announced to Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child in their old age Sarah laughed. When the baby was born she named him Isaac which means, he laughs.
Names carried a lot of meaning in biblical times. Sometimes a name could even be prophetic. When Rebekah gave birth to her twins she named one of them Jacob, which means he deceives. A number of years later he tricked his brother Esau into giving him his birthright and he deceived his Father Isaac into giving him the inheritance of the firstborn. Esau got upset and said, "isn't he rightly named, Jacob?"
So perhaps Jabez thought since his name meant pain and grief he was doomed to live a life of suffering and hardship. But then he had an idea. Despite what my name means, despite what the circumstances in my life are I'm going to seek to do something about it. I'm not going to just write myself off as doomed to live a life of sorrow; I'm going to do what I can to change it.
And we see proof of this in the first sentence, "He was more honorable than his brothers". If his brothers were quite dishonorable then it might not take very much to be more honorable than your brothers. But it's probably safe to say, given the honorable mention, that Jabez was an above normal person of honor. I think this shows the tenacity of Jabez. He wasn't going to be bitter, he wasn't going to despise his mother for giving him this name, he was going to become motivated to be everything his name wasn't.
Maybe his brothers teased him about his name; maybe they pretended to be in pain whenever he walked into the room. Maybe they called out to him, "Hey Jabez, you're a real pain, you know that?" Maybe at one time Jabez wondered if God had rejected him. Did his name signify his status with God? Was God telling him he was doomed to a life of pain so get used to it?
Whatever negativity Satan may have tried to convince him of he wasn't buying it. He was going to cry out to God. He didn't believe that God had rejected him. He believed that God would bless him if it be his will. He wanted to believe that he had just as much opportunity to be blessed as anyone else. And how would he ever know; how would he ever receive such blessings unless he went to God and asked him for them?
He wasn't going to settle for how things looked. He wasn't going to use his name or his circumstances to define his character. Instead he was going to allow himself the privilege of hoping for a better future; he was going to be honorable.
Typically every home town has that one family that stands out as notorious. We had a few of them up in Potsdam. But typically there was that one who rose above all that and made a different name for himself; shaking off the negative moniker and breaking the mold. Jabez broke the mold his name carried and achieved respect.
Perhaps you are here and you've carried a negative label around with you and you wonder if you will ever be able to shake it. You can rise above it and become an honorable person despite whatever "name" you've carried until now. You may even have a town named after you. Jabez isn't only a person, it is also a place.
1st Chron. 2:55a, "And the clans of scribes who lived at Jabez." Again, as in chapter four, where in a genealogy you predominately have a list of names, here you have something different-in this case it's a place. It's interesting that two things you typically don't find in a genealogical list-a place and a prayer-both have to do with the same person-Jabez.
According to the JFB commentary, "The Jewish writers affirm that he was an eminent doctor in the law, whose reputation drew so many scribes around him that a town was called by his name". If this is accurate we gain an understanding as to just how honorable Jabez was. He rose above the title of pain and misery to achieve lofty goals. He left the stamp of gloom and doom behind and replaced it with a stamp of integrity and accomplishment. The one who had a troublesome name made a better name for himself. But, it wasn't by himself.
2) God made a better life for Jabez (10).
1st Chron. 4:10, "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request."
Jabez was not going to accept the stigma his name carried. He wasn't going to allow it to discredit his hopefulness. He knew about God. He had probably been told about what God had done in rescuing his people from Egypt. So he decides to cry out to God in an effort to enact some mercy to counter his burdensome lot.
"Oh, that you would bless me". Bless is a word that we use often in various situations. We say a blessing over our meals, we say it to someone when they sneeze, but do we know what it means to ask for a blessing? The Hebrew word here for bless can mean, 'to speak words invoking [calling upon] divine favor'. It means to ask for supernatural favor.
Mr. Wilkinson writes in his book, "When we ask for God's blessing, we are crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or give to us." So Jabez, being confident in God's ability to bless him, calls upon him to do something supernatural in his life.
When we pray for God to bless ourselves or someone else we are asking God to pour out divine, supernatural power into our lives. Do we pray for that? Are we ready for that? Because often times God will need to prepare a person to receive holy blessings. We need to be responsible enough to handle the blessing correctly. Jabez was showing himself to be responsible for he was an honorable man.
"Enlarge my territory." Was Jabez dissatisfied with what God had given him? Was he greedily crying out, "I want more"? I don't think so. It is supposed that Jabez and his people were having battles with the Canaanites so the understanding is that he's asking God to be victorious.
But it wasn't about just having more land-it was his motive for having more. God granted his request because God knew Jabez's heart. God knew that Jabez's desire to expand was to be able to do more for God. And as we read earlier Jabez's influence was such that a town was named after him. A town where religious scribes were located who no doubt were copying the scriptures there.
God will give us more when our motive is to do more for him. 2nd Cor. 9:10-11, "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
This is the approach Bruce takes in his book. In asking God to enlarge our territory we're asking him to expand our ministerial opportunities; we're asking him to increase our influence for the gospel. We're asking God to bring us further, to bring us deeper, to cause us to seek new horizons and reach people outside of our current 'territory'. We're asking God for the increase in our ability to reach more people and do great things for his glory.
But are we ready to pray such a prayer? Are we ready to have God expand our lives? Are we ready to be more involved? Are we ready for more responsibility? Jabez asking God to expand his territory meant he was ready for God to move him outside of his zone and conquer new territories. Are we willing to have God do the same in our lives? It might be a little scary but the gain is far greater than the risk. [Kathy's gym].
"Let your hand be with me". Of course Jabez would pray for God's hand to be with him. If you're going to pray for God to increase your territory and your influence you better pray for his hand to be with you. Jabez knew that if God's hand wasn't with him he would not be successful.
Let your hand be with me as I seek victory in battle. Let your hand be with me in the affairs of my life. May your hand guide me, provide for me, chastise me, uphold me, bless me. May your hand be with me to bring success to my ministerial endeavors.
119:173, "May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts." Jabez had chosen to live a respectable life before God. Jabez prayed that God would expand his territory and he needed God's helping hand in order to be successful.
"Keep me from harm". The KJV has "keep me from evil" which goes along with what is in the Lord's prayer-'lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil'. Keep me from the harm and pain that evil causes. And again, as it made sense for Jabez to pray for God's hand to be with him after asking God to enlarge his territory, it makes sense for him to pray for God to keep him away from Satan. Why?
Because whenever we dare to get serious about doing great things for God we are poking the bear with a stick. When we're a threat to Satan's goals we can be sure that he will be coming after us. So, when Jabez asked that his boundaries be widened he knew that he needed two things-he needed God's hand to be guiding him and he needed God's hand to be protecting him. He knew that getting caught-up in sin would impede the work and blessings he asked God to give him. He didn't want to work against himself and this honorable man did not want to dishonor God so he asked to be protected from harm's way; he asked to be delivered from evil.
"And God granted his request". Does this mean God just dropped more real estate in Jabez's lap? I doubt it. I'm sure Jabez needed to do something to secure it. God was behind it and God was with him but Jabez needed to do what was necessary to obtain it. We can make the mistake that God will just give us what we ask for without any involvement from us.
Not that he doesn't bless us without our involvement but when we ask the Lord to bless us we need to be ready to do our part. We know that nothing good happens without God's divine intervention but answers to prayer commonly involve a combination of God doing his part and we doing ours.
But that doesn't mean we can take any of the credit. It was all God's provision-both in his intervention and imparted ability enabling us to do our part. We are asking for God's hand to be upon us because we know we can't do it without him.
Does this mean because God granted Jabez's request that he never had any trouble in his life from here on? I doubt it. We can make that mistake too. When God blesses us we think all our troubles will be over. That's not true for us and I'm sure it wasn't true for Jabez. But no doubt Jabez developed a habit of going to God each time trouble invaded his life to seek God's help.
However, on the flip side when God blesses us we shouldn't be wondering when the bottom will drop out. We should enjoy God's blessings without wondering when they will stop or when will things get worse. If we think that way we won't be able to enjoy God's blessings.
Sometimes we don't enjoy God's blessings because we feel unworthy and when we see someone else who isn't blessed we feel guilty. Instead of feeling guilty let's be motivated to try to bless that person. That's what it's about-God blesses us so that we would be compelled to bless others. We don't need to feel guilty we need to feel inspired.
God found favor in Jabez. God granted Jabez's requests because he delighted in the way Jabez lived his life. Psalm 37:21-24, "The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously; those the LORD blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off. If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."
Jabez living an honorable life does not happen apart from God enabling him to. Jabez achieving a 'doctor of the law' status does not happen without the blessing of God upon his life. His ability to rise above the stigma his name carried didn't happen without God giving him the confidence and determination to do so.
I believe Jabez recognized all this when he approached God. He had already seen God move in his life so it made perfect sense to go to God and pray this prayer. And God, seeing the respectable life Jabez was leading, granted his request. God desires to give us good things. Jesus said in Matthew 7 that if we know how to give good gifts to our children how much more will God do that for his children?
However, our requests have to be in line with his will. 1st John 5:14-15, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." We can be confident that if what we are asking for is in accordance with the will of God we will have it.
Jabez's requests were spoken in the Spirit of God and they were presented in the honor of God. It's important to see this because on the surface, Jabez's prayer appears to be selfish. He's asking blessing for himself: enlarge my territory (give me more), keep me from experiencing harm and pain. And it's unfortunate that some people have taken this prayer and used it as a confirmation to be self-centered.
But when we take the last line into consideration we realize that's not the case. God is not in the business of granting selfish prayers. He is not about catering to people's selfish desires. James 4:2-3, "You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
This tells me that if Jabez's desires were for selfish gain he wouldn't have gotten what he asked for. So the request to enlarge his territory wasn't a greedy request. He had God in mind regarding how he would use an increased size of land. If this resulted in having the town of Jabez then we can see how it was used to honor God; it was a location where scribes went to.
And Jabez's plea for safety wasn't a plea for a padded life free from trouble; it was a plea for survival so that he could continue to serve God. "Rescue me from the evil plans of the Canaanites, let the land of the one who worships you increase-not theirs." And we shouldn't assume that because we don't see him praying for the rest of his people that he was selfish and didn't care about them. Remember, we have the first statement to help us see Jabez's character-he was more honorable than his brothers.
So Jabez's prayer is not a selfish prayer. Yes, he's praying for himself but not with a motive of 'I don't care about anyone else'. So, this tells me that God is okay with us praying for ourselves when we are honorable. When we are honorable we will be blessed, we will be given what we ask God for. When we are striving to live a holy lifestyle we put ourselves in a position to receive blessings. We don't strive to be honorable for the purpose of receiving blessings-for that motive would be dishonorable. Our motive is to please God and give him praise and because God is delighted by that he blesses us. Not for our glory but for his. Not just for our gain, but for his kingdom's gain.
CONCLUSION: We aren't given very much information to understand who Jabez was. And what's interesting is we know more about what he prayed than what he did. His prayer is recorded but not his biography. But we realized that within these two short verses we can gain an understanding about what kind of person Jabez must have been. Jabez wasn't hindered in his prayers. Despite the meaning of his name he knew God could do great things and he called upon God to do something great in his life. We need to have the faith to believe in the greatness of God and believe that if we live an honorable and respectful life we can be recipients of his wonderful blessings.
