3^rd Sunday, December 16

JABEZ

1 Chronicles 4: 9-10

One thing we saw in Eleazer is that we don’t have to know a lot about someone in order to truly know someone. Such is the case with Jabez. This is all we know: “And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” That’s it! Three simple sentences, and yet multitudes of stores, Christian and otherwise, are filled with Jabez paraphenalia. From books and calendars to posters and plaques, one would be led to believe Jabez was a real superstar. The sheer popularity in the world—and worldly churches—of something truly spiritual, begs the question, “What is really going on?”

First of all, Jabez’s humility is evident in that he is called “honourable,”—and even above his brethren. This is important in that his brethren is the tribe of Judah, the people from which Jesus would eventually come. In the Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament, “honourable” means to be heavy. In today’s slang, we might call him a “heavyweight,” –spiritually, that is, not in the eyes of the world. In fact, his very name, meaning “sorrowful,” speaks of his recognition of his own need for the Lord and his subsequent repentance. When we see him “call” upon the Lord, by definition, it means to address someone by name and accost him. He isn’t just calling out to be given blessings, but rather, in the Hebrew, it is a kneeling and blessing God as an act of adoration—accosting Him with worship. He is not looking for materialistic blessings, only that God alone would be blessed. And when he asks to be kept from evil, he is not just looking to stay in his own comfort zone—he is asking that he would not fall to pieces in the midst of hard times. Literally, he is begging God to make him into a true believer and follower. Jabez does not cry out to get—he is yearning to be.

The prayer of Jabez is actually a very good prayer, and, Praise God, the Lord saw fit to answer it. And Bruce Wilkenson, the author of the book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” that started the current craze, actually does make some of these same points. He stresses commitment to God and the importance of desiring the will of God to be accomplished, but he totally misses the most crucial point of all—the indwelling Christ. The Christian life is not just figuring out what to do for God, and then doing it—true Christianity is a matter of being. It isn’t a matter of pulling a prayer out of Scripture, whether it be Jabez’s, or even the Lord’s, and repeating it over and over, something the author suggests. Christianity is being the prayer of Christ—the life of God within. Praise God for those who truly receive Immanuel—God with us. Jabez is in that number—are you?

~ Roy D. Warren, Jr.