Jabez The Unknown Who Became Well Known

Jabez  The Unknown Who Became Well Known

1 Chronicles 4: .⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain."¹⁰ Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked.

 

Take a walk with me. We're strolling through an old cemetery somewhere in the Deep South of the United States. Around the perimeter of two or three acres in the heart of this quiet town dripping with history is an iron fence separating two worlds, the ancient and the modern. This would be prime real estate were it not for the long-forgotten dead. We lift the latch to a rusty gate, and with a hard push, it squeaks open probably for the first time in months. By now the survivors of the deceased have long since died, so visitors are rarely seen.

Gigantic, eerily twisted trees full of thick, hanging moss shield this gloomy realm from the outside. We notice that it's unusually dark and cool for such a sunny day. Despite the layers of decaying leaves and tangled undergrowth, stone grave markers tell us where the dead lie. Clusters of tilting headstones of a dozen varieties tell us who built the surrounding city. Towering monuments tell us who was a "somebody." Humble footstones used to bear the names of those who were "nobodies," although a century of rainfall has all but erased them.

Each tablet marks an entire lifetime with just the basic facts: name, date of birth, date of death, beloved something to someone. With a closer look, we can glean a few more facts. Family names occasionally crisscross, so we can imagine a happy day when a man and a woman joined lives. A tiny marker beside them with just a few months between the dates tells us of the grief they must have endured. Beyond that, though, the details that made these lives fascinating are now secrets, buried in decaying boxes six feet beneath where we're walking.

As we turn toward the gate and meander through the clusters of silent stone chronicles, we glance at the names and dates as they come into view and then pass from our consciousness. They all look the same now. Wilson, born, died . . . Johnson, born, died . . . Anderson, born, died . . . but then, something's different. Etched into an otherwise average headstone, we see an unusual name accompanied by a short narrative. The words are few . . . just three or four sentences. But compared to the hundreds of stones we've seen, this is a mini-history book. We're forced to stop and read.

AN EPITAPH WORTH STUDYING

 

A stroll through the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles is a lot like walking through a cemetery—endless genealogies with names we can barely pronounce and having no context to give them relevance to us. I admit with no apology that I frequently find these sections boring, but I also feel compelled to read them since they are a part of God's Word—no less so than the red letters in our New Testament.

Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. The sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar and Ethnan. Koz became the father of Anub and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.

1 Chronicles 4:6–8

 

See what I mean? Three full chapters just like that, and six more to go. But then, suddenly, we stumble across a short epitaph in chapter 4. Two terse verses. That's not much in light of how much the Bible says about other great men and women, but compared to the hundreds of monotonous memorials in 1 Chronicles 1 through 8, this is hidden treasure waiting to be unearthed and appreciated. Here's a stone worth our time. J. Oswald Sanders, in a fine little book called A Spiritual Clinic, writes, "When God troubles to preserve the epitaph of one man out of millions and gives it in such concise and meaningful language, we can be certain that it will repay detailed study."¹ We ask ourselves, as we stand among the silent stones, what might God want us to see in these few words?

Before we pause and ponder the epitaph, let me preface this with a few comments. Much of my study and the principles I discuss in this chapter are not new. I first taught on Jabez back in 1976 and then again in 1990—a full decade before my colleague and longtime friend, Bruce Wilkinson, wrote his widely popular book—and my views have not changed. None of this is meant either to support or refute his work, so if you're looking for a fight, you won't find it here. I will, however, present a different slant on the subject as well as include a few more word studies than usual. Because the character of Jabez has become so controversial in some circles and because I think the extra scrutiny is healthy, I want to be careful to establish a solid basis for the principles I present. With that, let's pause and ponder the man I call "the unknown who became well known."

HOW THE STORY OF JABEZ IS IMPORTANT

 

The Lord had a reason for directing the author of the Chronicles to tell us about Jabez. We'll have to do some detective work to understand why. Whenever we do a study of a passage of Scripture, it's helpful to know why the words were written, what causes the author to include them, and, in the case of history, when the events actually took place. One reliable source states,

The purpose of 1 and 2 Chronicles is to show God's elective and preserving grace in His covenant people through David, the messianic king and priest. The genealogies are given to show how David and Judah were chosen by God. That divine selection is traced back to patriarchal and even prepatriarchal times.²

The Hebrew people are often called "God's covenant people" because throughout their history, God repeated His promise that they would be a great, prosperous nation in the land of Canaan. He promised it to Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, and He promised it to the nation when they came out of slavery in Egypt to settle the "Promised Land." In Deuteronomy 28:1–11, the Lord told them that His desire was to make them so wealthy and so powerful and so influential that the world would wonder at their great God and desire to know Him. After all, who would be attracted to a God who delighted in keeping His people poor and oppressed?

His desire for all of His people is to enjoy abundance—though never at the expense of their holiness—for three reasons. First, because He loves us. Second, because it brings Him pleasure. Third, because it brings Him glory. The early church father Irenaeus wrote, "The glory of God is a man fully alive, and the life of man consists in beholding God."

Stay with me as we continue to dig deeper. This book of history was written during a very weak, unstable period in the life of the nation. Like King Saul, God's covenant people peaked and then endured a long, agonizing, embarrassing decline. Finally, the Lord had His fill of their rebellion and implemented the severe consequences. He woke the sleeping giant, Babylon, who invaded and ravaged the land and then carried the Hebrew people into bondage. The Chronicler prepared this literary account not long after returning from seventy years of captivity in Babylon. During this time, the nation was struggling to regain its identity as God's covenant people. They were just learning, again, to have hope in the promises God had made centuries before in Deuteronomy 28.

If we look at the names that fall before and after the name of Jabez, we can discern that he lived around the time of the Joshua and the conquest of Canaan. Perhaps he was born into a family not particularly wealthy or influential during Israel's wandering years. But, as we shall see, he distinguished himself.

Now that we have his historical backdrop in place, let's observe what Scripture records about Jabez:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." 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 4:9–10

 

That's it. The man is never mentioned again in Scripture. It's not much to go on, but it's enough. In fact, I suggest that you go back and read those words again . . . only slower and preferably aloud.

The Hebrew is remarkably compact and concise. There's a lot going on in these verses if we're careful to observe them. First is his name.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO HIGH HONOR

 

The English rendering is Jabez, but the Hebrew is pronounced yah-betz (the second syllable sounds like the word baits.) His mother had the Hebrew word ah-tzav in mind when she chose her son's name. The term ah-tzav refers to anguish, intense sorrow, or pain. To arrive at his name from the Hebrew word, you transpose two letters. So it's a pun based on sound play. This would be like someone who hates cottage cheese, which is made from milk curd, saying, "I don't prefer milk crud, thanks." Somehow, his birth was associated with intense pain, though we have no idea how or what that pain might have been.

As a father of four children born into our home, I can recall the intense pain that Cynthia endured during childbirth, but this was to be expected. No one is surprised that giving birth is painful. Nor were the circumstances of life very sorrowful, so I never would have thought to name any one of my children Agony or Pain. However, in the birth of Jabez, his mother chose that name for a reason. We can only speculate.

The family could have endured financial distress. The prayer Jabez offered doesn't sound like something a rich man would pray. Health problems and survival were always major concerns in those days. And caring for children while physically ill as well as handling the rigors of the desert would have been very difficult. Maybe their times were tough. I can imagine lots of children having gloomy names during the Great Depression of the 1930s in America. Perhaps Jabez's father died during one of Israel's many battles. The nation fought a lot of them during this time in Hebrew history. Single motherhood is never easy, but it would have been borderline impossible during ancient times.

Some children are given pleasant names like Faith, Hope, Joy, Grace, and Charity. Imagine growing up with the name Pain. We can just imagine some neighborhood kid knocking on the door and asking, "Can Pain come out and play today?" At dusk, his mother opens the door and calls out, "Pain! Time for supper, Pain!" Every mention of his name would be a stinging reminder of the sorrow surrounding his birth. Not the joy of a new arrival, not the celebration of new life, not stories of how happy Mom and Dad were when he came into the world, but mourning. "When you came into the world, Pain, life couldn't have been worse."

Can you identify with Jabez? Some of you reading these pages can recall rather vividly the story of your origin, how you weren't even wanted, and no one bothered to keep that a secret. Perhaps you don't know your birth parents, and you wonder how the two people who gave you life could also give you up. Maybe you were born into horrendous circumstances—parents struggling with poverty or substance abuse or out-of-control emotions—and you were almost the straw that broke the family's back. And so you became their verbal punching bag. Or maybe you simply came later in life, long after Mom and Dad had decided on no more children, and you never knew the security of their warmth and affection.

Jabez was born into humble circumstances and was given a name that would never let him forget it. Nevertheless, don't miss the descriptive phrase just behind his name:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.

1 Chronicles 4:9

 

The Hebrew word for honorable literally means "heavy." We use that same concept in English when we say, "This is a weighty matter." When used of a person, it conveys the idea that he or she is impressive or noteworthy. One insightful resource on Hebrew terms puts it this way:

The reputation of an individual is of central importance in these usages. Thus the person of high social position and accompanying wealth was automatically an honored, or weighty, person in the society (Numbers 22:15, etc.). Such a position, its riches, and long life were commonly assumed to be the just rewards of a righteous life (1 Chronicles 29:28, etc.). While one would be honored automatically if one attained this stature, it is also clear that one was expected to merit the honor and the glory.³

Remember that these words were written, not during Jabez's lifetime, but after it had ended. The tree is down, so the measurement is trustworthy. Whatever the sorrowful circumstances that surrounded the beginning of his life, he ended his days with more honor, higher status, and greater influence than any and all of his brothers. In fact, the first sentence of verse 9 points to the contrast. After studying the Hebrew carefully, here is what is often called a nuanced translation, taking the complexity of the word usage and grammar into account. I placed my amplified portions in brackets:

Jabez was [one who was more noteworthy, more impressive, more weighty in his community] than his brothers, [ironically, though,] his mother [had] named him Jabez, [which is a sound play on the word for "pain,"] saying, "[I am giving him this name] because I bore him [in anguish]."

Take note of how his epitaph unfolds. Jabez was a great man, though he had humble beginnings. This is like saying, "Abraham Lincoln was one of America's greatest presidents, but he was born in a log cabin." What you would expect next is an explanation of how he made the transition. Verse 10 tells us how Jabez rose from the sorrow and anguish of his birth to such influential greatness in his later years.

THE AMBITIOUS PRAYER OF A HUMBLE MAN

 

How did his significance emerge? We're told it came as the result of a bold, earnest prayer that God chose to honor. Here is my nuanced translation of his prayer:

Now Jabez called out to the God of Israel, [this prayer:] "Oh [the deep longing I have] that You would [exceedingly bless me], and [You would cause the increase of ] my [sphere of responsibility, prosperity, and means], and that Your [continual presence and power] might be with me, and that You would [act to protect] me from harm [so] that it may not [be sorrowful to me] [as my name implies]!"

Clearly, Jabez made four specific requests. Let's examine each in turn.

Divine Ennoblement

 

First, he asked for God to bless him . . . but this was no cliché, no ordinary request. The Hebrew reveals the deep emotion of his prayer with what scholars call a particle of wishing. This very rare expression combined with the intense form of the verb reveals a man desperately wanting something. As a result, the request "bless me" is doubly intensified so that it becomes "bless me with overwhelming blessing."

He asked for what we might call divine ennoblement. The Hebrew blessing is no insignificant matter, as it is very closely connected with God's covenant with Israel, which will become clearer in the next section. All Hebrew people desired this covenant blessing, but the request by Jabez was different. In effect, he petitioned the Lord with, "Bless me with uncommon blessing. Lord, break through the cloud that has covered my life, from the sorrow that surrounded my birth to the limitations that I have endured all these years. Make my future a contrast to my past. Give me a giant stake in Your covenant with my people."

Divine Expansion

 

Next, "enlarge my border." At first glance, this looks like raw ambition, a prayer the health-and-wealth, name-it-and-claim-it, word-of-faith preacher might want us to send up. Janis Joplin used to sing with biting sarcasm, "Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?" If we stop with "enlarge my border" and fail to dig deeper for the full meaning, we might reduce prayer to a "gimme" list. And we're probably too close to that as it is.

Make no mistake, though, enlarged borders in the ancient world meant greater wealth, higher standing in the community, more power, and increased responsibility to the Lord and the community. Land was wealth . . . and much more. Jabez called out to the God of Israel to make him rich and powerful. This was an over-the-top prayer by a man with a genuinely sanctified ambition and great hope.

Please understand, ambition in the right context is not wrong. Praying for wealth for the sake of getting rich is not what the Lord desires, and I must underscore, becoming rich is not what Jabez longed for! In the context of Hebrew culture, and as it related to the promises of Deuteronomy 28, increased acreage involved a greater stake in the plan of God for Israel. Asking the Lord for more land was asking for a greater share in the covenant, which also brought with it all of its conditions—including the curses for disobedience. His was an honorable ambition.

Divine Empowerment

 

Next, Jabez prayed for divine empowerment: "and that Your [continual presence and power] might be with me." The New American Standard Bible renders the Hebrew faithfully: "and that Your hand might be with me." In the Old Testament culture and literary world, the hand was a symbol of power, strength, control, or skill. Throughout the Bible, God's sovereign intervention and the exercise of His omnipotence are associated with "the hand of the Lord."

In effect, Jabez prayed, "Lord, I'm counting on You to do these things in Your time and in Your way. But when You do, I don't want to go it alone. I want You to go with me. I want You to guide each step I take with Your mighty hand. I don't want to feel less and less of Your hand on my life as I taste more and more of a successful life. Therefore, I humbly ask that You will be with me."

Throughout the Scriptures, we see this pattern: those whom God blesses and uses in order to have the greatest impact are those who live in submission to His authority, seeking only His glory.

I can only wonder who might be reading these pages or what your future holds. For all I know you may be the future president of a corporation or a future congressman or a future high-ranking officer at the Pentagon or an influential minister of the gospel in the making or an insightful teacher of many or a gifted artist in great demand. God only knows. To you I offer this solemn advice: when the time comes for you to accept that high calling with tremendous responsibility and greater prosperity, be sure that your prayer includes, "May Your hand be with me, Lord. Keep me from arrogance and pride. Guide me so that I will remain faithfully submitted to You despite the illusion of power all around me. Remind me often of the perils that accompany success."

In the previous chapter, I said that success doesn't ruin the character of a person; it exposes the character he or she already had. Nevertheless, we can ask the Lord to use success to shape our character as we progressively grow in Christlikeness. Jabez didn't want success if it meant distance from his God, so he immediately and humbly requested that the Lord stay close.

Divine Enablement

 

His last request is closely related with the third. The simple, word-for-word translation reads: "and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" My own amplified version is "and that You would [act to protect] me from harm [so] that it may not [be sorrowful to me] [as my name implies]!"

The hand of God is not only a guiding presence, but it's also a protective power. The request of Jabez is not far from being exactly what the Lord promised to give Israel in Deuteronomy 28. He promised that He would not only give His people prosperity, but also protect them from invasion. It's a natural thing for anyone to request, but the closing phrase suggests that this request is much more personal for Jabez. He used the word his mother had in mind when she named him.

This is good reason to suggest that he wasn't merely asking for the Lord to guard him from future harm. He was likely asking to be unshackled from an existence of sorrow and anguish that characterized his life. He probably felt like he had a better chance of escaping his own name than the pain that followed him. He as much as said, "Help me not to live up to my name! Set me free from the ball and chain that is my past as You release me to a great and glorious future."

The final sentence of this eloquent epitaph tells us the result of his prayer. "And God [brought about for him] [altogether] what he had asked."

How I render the Hebrew description of what God did for Jabez captures the subtlety of the verb. "God granted" is direct enough, but it leaves the impression that somehow the Lord waved His hand, and Jabez instantaneously found himself dressed in fine clothing, suddenly standing on his new estate. God brought about what Jabez desired, not miraculously (though He could have), but by sovereignly acting through human interactions and everyday circumstances. He caused Jabez to prosper, most likely not overnight, but over a number of years. He guided and protected him through the years.

Jabez took a bold step of faith, and God honored it. The Lord smiled upon his requests and then walked with him, developing his faith through each victory and setback. Ultimately, He gave him everything he asked for.

May I offer one last observation? As we observe the verses before and after this two-verse narrative about Jabez, we see repeatedly the phrases "father of " and "son of " and "brother of." But we find none of those words about this humble man who prayed such an extraordinary prayer. He had a mother and he had brothers, but he was otherwise disconnected from any of the hundreds of names in this book. If anybody ever qualified as a "nobody," it would have to be Jabez.

It's quite possible you have little trouble identifying with him. For years you may have thought of yourself as a "nobody." Your beginning in this world may have been sorrowful, and your past may be littered with a series of tragic circumstances. All of that may have resulted in your telling yourself that the only impact you'll ever have is on someone's car door in the parking lot. You may look at where you came from and where you've been as living proof that small, narrow borders are all God intends for you.

This is not to say that filling a small space well is necessarily wrong, but let's be careful to examine our perspective. Complacency is the dark side of contentment. God calls us to surrender our wills to Him. He strongly desires our submission . . . but neither of those involves having a defeatist attitude. If you sincerely believe that your world is as big as God has planned for you, by His grace, then accept it and fill it well. Your reward will be great both on this planet and in eternity.

On the other hand, if you simply haven't taken the time to look to the heavens and allow yourself to think beyond your present limitations, what are you waiting for? What makes us so hesitant to ask God for a grand place in the world, for a position having vast responsibilities? Of course it's a surprise when He lifts someone to a position of authority and responsibility. Most of the people I know who rise to such heights tell me that they feel surprised to have such authority. Most often, they feel unprepared and often extremely undeserving. Notice that I said undeserving, which is a healthy sign of humility.

I have two questions for you that only you can answer: Could it be that the Lord has planned for you a position having much responsibility, high privilege, and great authority? Could it be that the role He has in mind for you is far beyond what you have ever imagined, where He would have you making decisions that impact society in a significant way? Admittedly, those are unenviable positions involving lots of limelight and flak, but the reward for obedience would be worth the trouble. Now here's a third question that may frighten you, but I urge you to consider it: what's keeping you from praying for an expanded vision and enlarged borders? I cannot help but wonder if God preserved this brief but powerful story to cause the reader to come to terms with questions like those I have just asked.

THREE PRINCIPLES

 

In the story of Jabez, I'm not only prompted to ask you those questions, but I also find three principles worth keeping in mind as you examine your current limitations.

First, a small, struggling start doesn't necessitate a limited life. If you're not careful, the adversary will convince you that, because of your struggling start and limited past, your future can never be anything more. The enemy of your soul is trying to convince you that you were born into the restrictions that govern your life and you're condemned to live there from now on. No! Remember Jabez, the unknown who began his life in sorrow but the Lord led him to a place of honor, because he dared to pray boldly with devotion for God. The Lord granted Jabez what he requested. Why wouldn't He do the same for you?

Second, no measure of success is safe without God's presence and power. In the previous chapter, we examined the life of Rehoboam. The wealth and power that his father, Solomon, left behind should have been enough to protect the Hebrew nation from enemy invaders. Rehoboam had enough gold in one public building to fund an army large enough to destroy Egypt, yet because God removed His protection, nothing stopped the king of Egypt from conquering the Hebrews and simply making the gold his own. Never doubt it: success on your own is a perilous existence.

Third, when God prospers and blesses a life, no place for guilt remains. God's gifts are always appropriate, always righteous, and never to be considered a source of embarrassment or shame. Privileged rank or status, and the blessings that go with it, are small compensation for the responsibility that people in large places bear. With great responsibility comes an equal load of stress. Occasionally, I've studied a photograph of the president of the United States shortly after his inauguration. Eight years later, I've looked closely at one taken near the end of his second term. The contrast is always amazing. The stress of eight years in office has aged the president by decades.

Never apologize for blessings the Lord gives you. Life has enough sorrow without our attaching guilt to the good things He gives us. If you happen to be one whom God has chosen to fill a high-profile role that included the blessings of material abundance, gratefully accept it. Determine to use all that He gives you for His purposes, and give generously for the advancement of His kingdom. Enjoy God's goodness to the fullest.

THE CHALLENGE: DREAM GOD-SIZED DREAMS

 

Let me make all of this personal. Could it be that your current vision, your present paradigm has been shaped by the restrictive demands and limitations of your original setting? Could it be that the influences that give your life order and comfort are the very things that hold you hostage, bound to a certain way of life or a certain way of thinking? Could it be that you have not broken free simply because the thought of breaking free hasn't occurred to you? Have you asked the Lord to give you a vision far beyond your current borders? Why not?

One of my very closest friends in the ministry, Dr. Mark Young, was born and raised in Putnam County, West Virginia, just like seven generations of Youngs before him. Now, I don't want to play into any stereotypes with his story. His father was a banker and provided a normal, middle-class income for his family, but he hoped that Mark would be the first Young in seven generations to earn a college degree. A noble ambition. And very reasonable. But, in retrospect, a somewhat limited one.

Not only did Mark graduate from Marshall University, but he went on to earn his master of theology degree at Dallas Theological Seminary. Later He completed his PhD at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Prior to finishing the program, he and his wife had moved to Poland—then still behind the iron curtain—where Mark helped begin and establish an evangelical seminary. After many years of ministry, experiencing the transition from the Soviet regime to democracy and seeing the seminary flourish, Dr. Mark Young now serves as Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Dallas Seminary. He's also our senior executive pastor of strategic planning and ministry training at Stonebriar Community Church.

Amazingly, it all started in the tiny town of Hurricane, West Virginia, where his father merely hoped his boy would go to college. The Lord has blessed him, indeed . . . and he would be the first to acknowledge that fact.

Now, that's what I call enlarged borders! Trust me, Mark would tell you, this was nothing he could have pulled off by merely dreaming big and "reaching for the stars." This remarkable journey, one he's still on, was God's doing. Jabez and Mark had these in common: a limited life, a desire to see more, and a gracious God who was more than willing to demonstrate His power through them. Both handled it beautifully.

If you don't at least hold out the possibility that you could be a part of a much larger world, you are doomed to remain an ignorantly blissful prisoner of the one you live in today.

Don't stay there.

 

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR GROWTH GROUP

 

How has your early influences affected your path of life?

 

 

Who encouraged you to consider possibilities beyond your circumstances?

 

 

How might a background of darkness and death have affected Jabez's opportunities to experience a remarkable life?

 

Jabez called out to God.  How does this describe Jabez's faith?  Is there an example her for us?

 

 

 

 

Deuteronomy 28: Blessings for Obedience

1 "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7       "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.8 The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.9 The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.11 And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Our propensity for greed can lead us to a "prosperity gospel".  How do we avoid the perils of pride and power and pleasure that could be motivating factors for praying a prayer that Jabez prayed?

 

 

What does this teach us about the basis in Scripture of Jabez's prayer?

 

 

What do these passages teach us about prayer?

 

 

Luke 11:5-13

And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves,⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';⁷ and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'?⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

 

John 14:13-15

¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ¹⁵ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

 

 

1 John 5:13-15

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

 

 

How do we avoid the peril of a "prosperity gospel?"

Possibly the worst form of prosperity gospel is practiced by what is called the cargo cult in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Research the problems this poses for missions.

 

 

 

Where is the line between a biblical prayer and a prosperity cult?

 

Jabez asked God's protection from harm so that it might not pain him. How is this ironic?