The Prayer of Jabez
In 1 Chron 4 we have this long long list of names of the descendants of Judah. I think there are over 80 descendants mentioned! And in the middle of this long list of names we find this.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
9 Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 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.
It’s quite unusual because it’s not even clear to me who his father was and very little is known about Jabez except what was written in these few verses. But one thing he was known for was this prayer, and this prayer of his, was passed on from generation to generation and is now in the bible for eternity. He was obviously quite a special guy!
We know that 2 Timothy 3:16 says
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
So let’s see what we can learn from this.
There are many eminent Christian’s leaders who believe that this prayer is of such significance that we should use it as a guide to pray on a daily basis? In fact books have been written about this prayer. I’m always wary of any formula based approach to prayer but having said that, as I studied this prayer I realised there is a lot to these few verses. And it does give us some very interesting insights into prayer. And prayer is a key part of Christian life- it’s important.
Remember 2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
So let’s see what we can learn from this prayer. It’s very simple and short, and if we pray, with a similar heart, with a similar attitude, then I have no doubt God will “hear from heaven, and will forgive your sin and will heal your land.” And you can include in your “land” your town, your family, your own spiritual growth. As I have said many have used this prayer as a template for their own daily prayer and its simplicity and its depth makes it very useful.
Before we start lets note that Jabez’s mother calls him by this name Jabez which seems to be the Hebrew word for pain. Can you imagine being called “Pain”- not very nice. But people do label other people- “stupid”, “worthless”, “lazy”, “not normal” “ugly”, ”failure”…. and so this list goes on. You have two options, either accept the label, curl up into a foetal position, become so introverted you just fade away and lose out on all life has to offer, or turn to God like Jabez did and become known throughout history for nothing else except the faithfulness of his prayer life for which he was honoured before God and men. He did not accept the label, he prayed about it – in fact at the end of the prayer he says keep me from pain. Other people do not define who you are, God does and He says in Isaiah 43…
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, ……,
he who formed you, …….:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine.
And that makes you special! People’s labels- even what you might believe of yourself is quite honestly not worthy of consideration, when God says I made you and you are mine!
Getting back to the prayer
It opens up and says “Jabez was more honourable than his brothers” vs9. If you think or believe that God will not listen to your prayer because you think you are not honourable or worthy enough, you should memorise this verse
Colossians 1:22 NIV
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
So let’s put that one to bed straight away. He has declared you, through the death of Jesus to be holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
In the very next verse (v10) we read “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel”. For me this is the start of the prayer, let’s follow it through and see what we can learn
Immediately we see Jabez’s attitude- he cries out. I know from experience this crying out sometimes only happens in tough times. You can see his prayer is heartfelt and he opens himself up to the presence of God. This is not a prayer where he recites some words asking God to bless him. No, this is a genuine calling out to God. This is what you may call a deep prayer. We need to pray “deep” prayers. That’s why we sometimes need a place where there are no distractions. Maybe that’s why they call it a quiet time? So even before he start his prayer he comes before God with the right attitude. A good starting point.
Then we read that Jabez cries out to the God of Israel. So he starts of by recognizing and giving reverence to the mighty God of Israel. In the Lord’s Prayer we also start by saying "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” When we communicate with anyone, we direct it to that person. But in the case of communicating with God, we not only direct our prayers to Him, but we recognise His Lordship, His might. Even if you had to speak to King Charles, you are required to address him as “your majesty”. In the Lord’s Prayer we also start by saying "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. Just have a look at Psalm 22- this is the God whom we are addressing in our prayers!
Psalm 22:3-5 NIV
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
So Jabez starts off and addresses God, the Holy One, the praise of Israel – he addresses the King of all creation in the right way. It reveals his attitude and humility.
Then we see in the first part of the prayer, Jabez prays;
“Oh, that you would bless me…” It’s not wrong to ask for God’s blessing. Don’t you as a parent want to bless your children as much as you can? Well then how much more does our Father in heaven want to bless us? But with my own children my experience has been this, I am so willing and wanting to bless them, if only they will let me. But instead they want to lead their own lives to be independent. I am so waiting for them to say Dad, what do you think I should do in this situation, and how do you think I can reach these goals and dreams? The resources and the knowledge are there for me to bless them, but they do not ask and input is seen as either not necessary or at worst interference. So that blessing is not realised. When we ask our Father in heaven for a blessing we acknowledge in totality where our blessings come from and we open up ourselves to receives those blessings that the Father so wants to give – but we need to ask!
Jeremiah 29:11 is famous
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is the heart of the Father, to this day, for all. God does not change. But we need to turn to the Father in humility and ask. We don’t get because we don’t ask, because we think we can do it all ourselves. I’m just waiting for my children to open up and allow me bless them. I can’t force myself on them and maybe we’re doing the same to God? Don’t hesitate to ask God to bless you and your family.
The second part of the prayer is this… that God would “… enlarge my territory” we read:
“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory.”
We should not see this as some kind of prosperity gospel where all we have to do is ask God and He will always give us, health, wealth and happiness. We only need to look at the life of the apostle Paul to see that this is not true.
And if you are in the habit of comparing what you have or don’t have as far as your health, your wealth or your happiness is concerned, then maybe memorise this verse.
Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV/ HNV)
5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Everything we have is from God and determined by God. In one of the Psalms it says “Whom do I have in heaven and earth but You, and being with you I desire nothing on earth”. So what more do we need? We can say with confidence, yes my boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; and surely I have a delightful inheritance.
The problem we have is this, when we think about our lives, we often constrain our lives, and limit our thinking to the small little comfort zone we have and live in. But what God has in mind for us is bigger than we can imagine or think we can do- and I’m talking particularly in a spiritual sense, but probably in many other ways.
An analogy I often think about is this. We have many people come and stay with us on the farm. And as you know it really is beautiful, large 5 acre dam, smaller dams, surrounded by trees and just so peaceful. Almost all people that come and stay for a few days never go more than 20m from the house! Only a few even walk around the dam let alone get to the boundary which is only about 500m away. How much they miss out on!
So let’s ask God to enlarge the boundaries of our thinking, enlarge our territory of influence and experience,- further than 20m from the house- because we know He has assigned us our portion and our cup and its bigger and better than we can imagine.
But until you explore that option of extending your experience, nothing will happen- so ask God, just like Jabez did, to extend your boundaries so that you can realize all that He has in store for you.
Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Extend your boundaries! I don’t think we are able to imagine what God has in store for us. Paul puts it this way
Ephesians 3:20 NIV
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory…
And that for me is then another reason why I think we should have a “bucket list” or a list of things we may want to do. Let’s dare to dream what God has in store for us- maybe on your list is to see someone you have not seen for a long time or to write them a letter, a place to visit, maybe it’s to buy your grandchildren a bible with something you have written on the inside cover, maybe it’s to go on a cruise, maybe it’s to reconcile with someone where there was conflict or maybe it’s to write a book. Make that list and keep it somewhere safe and ask God to extend your boundaries and to open the eyes of your heart that you may see the richness of His glorious inheritance.
In the next part of Jabez’s prayer, he prays for the presence of God to be with him. He prays,
“Let your hand be with me”.
This follows on from the previous request to extend the boundaries. When we move beyond our comfort zone we need the presence of God even more! We need God’s guiding hand.
Isaiah 41:13
13 For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
In my analogy of most people not wanting to walk further than 20m from the farm house, those that do want to extend their experience, I can tell them about the electric fences not to touch, the very marshy area in the wet season that they may want to avoid, the area where we have these magnificent Rainbow Bee-eater birds to see, where the boundaries are to the next farm are which they should not cross etc. I can help guide them of where to go
And so likewise we to need God’s guiding hand in every step of our lives so that we can experience all he wants to give us, to avoid the marshy areas, to be aware of the electric fences, and so much of that comes from the word of God – the bible! We cannot do it ourselves with any great success
2 Corinthians 3:5 NIV
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
Then finally Jabez prays for protection.
“Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm .”
And so he prays that God would keep him from harm, he prays for protection. David in the Psalms did this as well you know.
Psalm 5:11 NIV
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you
Let us then also pray for protection over us and our families, not only in the physical realm but perhaps especially in the spiritual realm and…..
3 the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
(2 Thessalonians 3:3)
So there we have it- a simple 4 step prayer- Blessing, Boundaries, Presence, Protection. Next time you see a BP service station and you say B..B..P..P- you can say you’re not stuttering you’re praying for Blessing of family, Boundaries being extended, Presence of God and the Protection of God on your family.
Thank you Lord for your word which is so precious!