2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Pastor Bruce Wilkinson defined a word with which I wasn’t familiar in his little book with the huge prayerful gift for us, “The Prayer of Jabez.” This word was “gimper,” which he defined as “a person who always does a little more than what is required or expected of him.” It was clear from what he says that Jabez was surely a gimper. It also raises the question: How can we be gimpers for God? Each of us must find his own individual answer of that question. However, we don’t have to do it without God’s direction. I love the book of Romans, because the first 11 chapters are the greatest doctrinal treatise in the Scriptures. These are followed by RO 12-16, which are one of the clearest “how-to’s” on how to be a good Christian and please God that we have. This is one of the reasons that I would like to teach the Precepts Ministries two-year course on the book of Romans to a new group of students in the near future.
RO 12 is a chapter about life in God’s service. Now you might ask, “what this has to do with Jabez?” And, I will assert, “a lot.” Jabez didn’t have to know about Jesus Christ to know that he should serve God. I feel assured that Jabez met and was accepted by Jesus Christ after his physical death. RO 12: 1, “So then, my brothers, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him. This is the true worship that you should offer.” I believe that Jabez did that, even though he never read Paul’s words here. How do I know this? By reading the contents of his prayer in 1 CH 4: 10 and feeling as strongly as I do that he was a “gimper” for God.
As we go through each of the four requests of the Prayer of Jabez, notice that each one of them is a “paradigm breaker.” That means that it alters the model of what we personally should ideally think or do to come closer to God’s. We also need to ask ourselves: When was the last time that God worked through us in such a way that we knew beyond a doubt that He had done it? This should lead each of us to spend some time thinking about how God is working through our lives. We need to know whether we have emptied our spiritual vessels of human agendas, so that the Holy Spirit is free to operate in doing God’s agenda. Some of the happiest people I know are the ones who have made God’s agenda the same as their own. To do this, they had to listen for God’s commands and do them at the time God directs. When this is done, the blessings begin to flow not just to ourselves, but to others as well.
RO 12: 4-6a, “We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way, thought we are many, we are one in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body.” How very different this attitude this than that of the world! The world directed by the adversary wants nothing more that for each person to take care of his own agenda without consideration for any one else’s, much less for God’s. That is why so much societal and denominational fracture and segmentation has occurred. It accounts for the breakdown of the family unit, for the battle of the sexes, for dissension in some congregations, for materialism, and for all the other evils we see in today’s society. God’s way is to bring us into congregations as His servants who enter into that special “koininea” relationship that exists between ourselves, other Christians and Himself. Our assignment is the edification and unification of the Body of Christ. When we carry it out, amazingly our own personal needs are seen to by the God Who loves each of us. Now, I haven’t left Jabez behind when I say that as a “gimper” for God, I believe he understood the principles of not acting selfishly. That is particularly true when we look at his pleas to God “to extend my territory” and “to keep me from evil.”
The same could be said for Jabez’s reaction to his own name, which means “pain.” Names matter in Jewish culture, and they should matter in ours. Look at some of these examples. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with the man at Peniel in GN 32: 28. You will remember that I’ve often said that the man at Peniel was a theophany, God appearing in a form that man can recognize. Jacob’s hip is injured in that fight, but he emerges victorious. Because of his faith, God changes his name from Jacob, which means “deceiver” to Israel, which means “He struggles with God.” Since Jacob is Abraham’s grandson and Isaac’s son, his descendants become God’s chosen people, Israel. Another example is the name, Solomon, a form of “shalom” which means “peace.”
Paul spoke of a principle, which I believe Jabez understood, in RO 12: 20-21, “Instead, as the Scripture [PR 25: 21-22] says, ‘If you enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will make him burn with shame.’ Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.” Christ Himself spoke of loving one’s enemies, another thing that I think Jabez would have done. MT 5: 44-45a, “But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the sons of your Father in heaven.” This is a very spiritually mature way of looking at the troublemakers in our lives. It’s God’s way, which we need to make ours.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have asked us to make our lives a “living sacrifice” to You, dedicated to Your service and pleasing to You. Because You have equipped us to do that, we can make that choice. You have given us the example of Jabez from the OT to show us that people who are faithful to you, as he was, also understood that principle. You show us the importance You place on people’s names and allow us to see Jabez’s response to his. You bring us together in congregations and give us clear direction on how we should interact with each other and to serve You. And, You directed Your Son, our Savior Who died on the cross so that we could one day spend eternity with You, to tell us to love our enemies. In the next few days, we are going to look closely at Jabez’s prayer, something You want us to do to see the example of a man who you deemed “the most respected of his family” because of the example of his faith in You. What precious gifts You give us, O loving Abba! For that and so much more, we approach You in humility and offer You our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, honor, glory, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin looking at the first of Jabez’s four pleas to God: “Oh, that You would bless me indeed.” The Lord has given me a real enthusiasm for recalling with you the love He has for each of us. There is no doubt that bad things happen in our lives. My friend, Audrey Morris,’ illness is an example. But, God loves us enough that He has given us direction in the Scriptures for how to stretch toward His perspective on them. When we do this, He is not only able to work through us, but our sanctification is brought forward as well. Audrey and Jim Morris’ example of faithfulness is a gift our loving Abba has given to Peter and me. It’s a sure bet that you have people in your lives who do the same for you and are gifts from God to you too. His love is all over the place; take comfort in that. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn