I Chronicles 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.  

    Occasionally we all come to a place where “we’ve heard it all before.” Times where a topic is brought up and we instantly feel like we know what’s going to be said and we kind of tune out. Or is that just me?

    In I Chronicles’ opening chapters we come to a hurdle. Or for many, a barrier. To accomplish the goal of reading through the entire Bible you have to get through I Chronicles and the first nine chapters are lists of names. This is where we remind ourselves that all Scripture is equally inspired, but not all Scripture is equally inspiring! It is so easy to come to this section and practice our speed reading! To see the lists and think, “OK. Got it.” And just skip to the good part. But right in the middle of the lists, come this short prayer. Much has been written on it. Some see in this prayer a way of manipulating God. “Use this and then …” But that isn’t the point. 

    Let’s consider two thoughts from the prayer. Jabez asks that God would bless him and enlarge his territory. I don’t really think God is overly concerned with my land holdings. But He is concerned with my influence. He has put in my life a number of people with whom I have contact and some measure of influence. You might say this is my micro-mission field. As a Christian, I am called to be His witness. I should pray that God increases my circle, that He would enlarge my territory. For His greater glory. I should pray that God will bring people into my life that need to hear of His great love. I will be blessed infinitely more by having a part in someone’s faith journey than I ever will over getting a new car or house!

    The other part of the prayer I want to focus on is the last part:  “Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” Jesus said that “in this world you will have tribulation.” So what is it? Pain or no pain? Jabez is an odd-sounding name to our ears. I’ve run into a lot of interesting names in my life, but have yet to encounter a Jabez. Hebrew names have meanings. The name Jabez sounds a lot like the Hebrew word for pain. 

    In my journey with Jesus, I can never follow Him like I should as long as I am focusing on myself. I can never serve others as long I am focusing on myself. Jabez asked to be free from pain and maybe he meant it literally. But I know that, for me, I really need God to help me be free from myself! To be free from myself is truly to be free from pain! 

    I need to embrace the goal of John 3:30: He must become greater, I must become less. When that happens, I will be blessed indeed!

 

Blessings,     

Pastor Russ