How would you characterize the content of your prayers? Tucked away in the book of 1 Chronicles we’re introduced to an individual named Jabez. We don’t know much about Jabez except for the two verses that give us insight into his life. We see that he is described as an honorable man,

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” (1 Chronicles 4:9)

The name “Jabez” literally means sorrow. Jabez was given that name because of the pain his mother experienced in giving birth to him. All birth is painful and we don’t know the specific circumstances; perhaps it was emotional pain and his mother may have wondered how she could take care of another child. Although his name meant sorrow, we know that sorrow and hardship can be a way to draw us closer to God and increase our faith. We see his dependence upon God demonstrated in his prayer,

Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10)

Jabez makes four specific requests in his prayer. First, he prayed that God would bless him indeed. It’s not wrong to ask God to bless you. We can go astray when we tell how God to bless us with a request that could ultimately lead us astray. Jabez trusted God and left the answer up to God how he would bless him. You can trust God to answer in  His way and in His timing for our good,

It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it. (Proverbs 10:22)

Next, he prayed that God would enlarge his border. Jabez looked at his situation and concluded, “I was born for more than this!” How about you? When your horizon has been stretched to a God sized dream, you don’t settle for the way it used to be. Do you sense that you’re fulfilling God’s destiny for your life?

Thirdly, he prayed that God’s hand might be with him. Jabez was dependent upon God’s presence. He realized that apart from God that his efforts would not succeed.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5)

Finally, Jabez literally prayed that God would keep him from evil so that it would not grieve him. Jesus taught His disciples a similar prayer,

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13)

Are you praying like Jabez? God wants to pour out His blessings upon His children. Sometimes we have not because we ask not,

You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:2)

May we ask with the right motives and see God do an amazing work in our lives! C.S. Lewis reminds us in The Weight of Glory, “It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Don’t settle for less than God’s best.

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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