I Chronicles 4:9-10 THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
The book of chronicles is the book of genealogies, but in the fourth chapter we find a prayer.
We have been discussing the importance of prayer for sometime. We have mentioned that we should be praying according to God’s will. Today, we are going to dive into the prayer of Jabez. This prayer will give us an example to follow. Now let’s read the scripture together.
We find Jabez buried in a long list of genealogies — so and so was the father of so and so, and so and so was the father of so and so . . . . ad infinitum. It goes on for nine chapters in the book 1Chronicles. You are so bored by the time you reach Jabez that you almost skip over him. 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? Let’s look at the prayer piece by piece in order to discover why God was 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.
I Chronicles 4:9-10
9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name [a]Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my [b]territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.
We have a God who likes to write names in a book. A God who knows us by name.
I. JABEZ – A baby born in Sorrow
9 and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
1. The Cause of the “sorrow”
a. Unwanted pregnancy? b. Abandoned family? c. Hard economic times?
2. The Consequence of the “sorrow”
Biblical names often carry symbolic meanings reflecting aspects of a person’s birth, parent’s wishes, or even divine messages. For example, names like “Abijah” meaning “God is my father” or “Elijah” meaning “the Lord is my God” highlight a person’s relationship with God. Other names, like “Absalom” meaning “father of peace,” express a parent’s desire for their child. Names were also used to establish authority, a new direction in life, or secure family ties.
David – beloved
John – God is gracious
Joshua – God is my salvation
Paul – humble
Seth
In the Bible, Seth was a son of Adam and Eve, the first people God created. His name means “placed” or “appointed” in Hebrew.
Timothy
Timothy was an early Christian missionary and a companion of the apostle Paul. He co-wrote many of the New Testament epistles with Paul. Timothy derives from a Greek name meaning “one who honors God.”
Julia
Julia derives from an ancient Roman family name, which may be rooted in a Latin word meaning “devoted to Jove,” the Roman king of the gods; or in a Greek word meaning “downy-bearded.” In the Bible, Paul sent greetings to a woman named Julia in his letter to the Roman church.
Rebekah
Rebekah is the English variation of the Hebrew name Rivkah. In the Bible, Rebekah (more commonly spelled Rebecca) married Isaac, son of the Hebrew: Abraham, and gave birth to Jacob and Esau. This name means “to tie” or “to bind.”
So, JABEZ means A baby born in Sorrow
But, This gave him a new Resolve – he Determined to see a change in his life!
3. The Cure of the “sorrow” 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel.
Here he describes himself to the Lord. Have you ever done that? Well, we might say “it’s me again, I’m here with your children, or Lord I’m so sick. According to this word we are ok in talking to God like that, because our prayer example does.
The first point we will consider, then, is: Jabez prayed for God to bless him. He sought God’s blessing on his life. He was not worried about being selfish, he wanted God’s best and believed that God wanted to give it to him. He remembered his ancestor Abraham, when the Lord said to him: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). Jabez sought the blessing of God that he might be a blessing to the world. The Bible tells us that our whole reason for existence is to be a blessing to God and a blessing to the world.
You are not here for you.
The world does not revolve around you.
Your whole purpose of existence is to be a blessing to the world.
There is nothing wrong with praying for God to bless you, if it is for the purpose of being a blessing. It is not wrong to pray for wealth, if you are wanting to bless people with your 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 by all means pray for material prosperity.
If you want wisdom so that you can help other people then pray for wisdom, for the Bible says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
But if you just want more wealth in order to spend it on yourself, your prayer will most likely not be answered.
If you want wisdom so you can feel smarter than other people, your prayer will most likely not be answered.
If you want success, or want to be a leader, so that you can lord it over others, your prayer will most likely 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 was doing right and putting his best foot forward.
One scripture that always comes to mind when putting your best foot forward or moving forward in life is….
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
2. JABEZ – A BLESSED MAN – 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel
WE MUST LOOK IN THE BIBLE FOR DIRECTION and call upon the name of the Lord.
For example,
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The Bible is a book about people, about problems, and about solutions to those problems
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed,
1. A Prayer with a PURPOSE a Prayer for Spiritual Blessings.
2. A Prayer for PROSPERITY “And enlarge my coast – border.”
“Lord help me to do a greater work for thee”
3. A Prayer for POWER – “That thy hand might be with me.”
The Bible is full of prayers. Let us Travel to the book of acts! Acts chapter 4 has the perfect verse for us to pray about power.
Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
The 2nd request in Jabez’s prayer was to enlarge his territory. This was not a request for a home and large piece of property. This was a request to be used by God and to do wonderful works through him.
This got me to thinking..,
I thought Lord have you enlarged my ministry? Have I produced any fruit for you?
Well, the prison needed a chaplain and if I lived closer I believe I would consider taking the job, but that is not where the Lord has planted me.
He enhanced our ministry in a variety of ways.
This includes evangelism, outreach, giving through missions, allowing and supporting your pastor in Prison missions, and ministry to those in need.
Your personal territory might be your family, your community, and your church. Jabez wanted to stand out. He wanted to excel and expand, and he wasn’t afraid to ask God for his blessing and success. He wanted to dream big dreams for God and could envision God providing it.
Many people never achieve the things that they could accomplish because they walk through life with no vision, no master plan, no real purpose, no dream that motivates them toward their goal and no courage to step out of their comfort zone in order to grasp what others are not willing to reach for.
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? What is God speaking to you about which you have been ignoring? What have you dreamed about, but dismissed because you thought it was an impossible dream? Begin to pray for the hand of God to be upon your life so that you 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!”
In Ephesians 3:20, the Apostle Paul tells us that, “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us.” This is one of my favorite verses because it reminds us that we can’t out-ask or out-dream God.
I’ve got a pretty big imagination and yet God says, Jessica, you think of the greatest thing possible, the greatest blessing for your family and for your church and I can top that and do something even beyond your imagination.
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. One translation misses the point, I believe, when it says, “Keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” The New King James puts it like this: “Keep me from evil that I might not cause pain.” It is actually a play on words. 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.
Do you remember what the world was like just prior to the flood in Noah’s day? The Bible says that, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Then it says, “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:5-6). Sin brings pain to the heart of God. If you don’t believe that, you need to take another look at the cross. We miss the pain of God in our protestant churches. Jesus is missing from the cross, and we have our crosses made of polished brass so they sparkle in the light. We 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 sublime look of peace on his face. But the real crucifixion was much different. He was naked and the flesh on his back and chest had been shredded by Roman whips. His body was filthy from the cell where he was kept. There were deep bruises from the beatings. The painful crown of thorns caused rivers of 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, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). Jesus taught us to pray the prayer of Jabez when he prayed, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
And if you think you can get by with sin without there being pain in your own personal life, you are mistaken. It will be like a cancer eating its way through your life. It will strip you of God’s blessing and destroy your effectiveness. It will tear apart your relationships and leave you very alone. It will leave you beaten, and it will alienate you from God. Pray that you will be kept from evil and from the pain it inflicts. Because if you do, you will experience the blessing of God and feel his hand upon your life. God is in the blessing business, for he says to you today, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
Take hold of the promises of God and do something great for him. Go ahead and ask him for the moon, and he will give you the sun and the stars as well.
What does that mean pastor?
God’s promises are true! This means to promise (someone) that God will do or give something great and wonderful even though it is not humanly possible.
