2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Yesterday and the day before, I shared some preliminary information and discussion about the Prayer of Jabez that mostly covered 1 CH 4: 9. Today, we will begin looking at the four elements of this prayer which is given in 1 CH 4: 10. Let me repeat this passage for your convenience. “There was a man named Jabez, who was the most respected member of his family. His mother had given him the name Jabez, because his birth had been very painful. But Jabez prayed to the God of Israel, ‘oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil.” As we will see, this is a most powerful little prayer, one that can have far-reaching implications on our lives if we are willing to pray it every day. That is something I and a number of others have begun to do.
Let’s begin with the first element, “oh, that you would bless me indeed.” The question arises: When we ask for God’s blessing, are we asking for something we can supply for ourselves? I believe the answer is “no.” Only God can choose to deliver His blessings to us. There is plenty of evidence in the Scriptures that He is eager to have us seek Him out. PS 119: 2, “Happy are those who follow His commands, who obey Him with all their heart.” PR 8: 17, “I love those who love Me; whoever looks for Me can find Me.” MT 6: 33-34, “Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you, and He will provide you with all these other things. So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.” Part of the reason that God states His own sovereignty so often in the Bible is that He wants us to realize that He is the Source of all good and the most powerful Entity in the universe. When we do, then we will be willing to seek Him out with our desire to be blessed.
Pastor Bruce Wilkinson shared a wonderful metaphor in his little book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” that I would like to relate to you. He asked us to imagine being in heaven with an angelic guide and coming across a large warehouse. We ask our guide what is in it, and the guide unlocks the door revealing shelf after shelf of boxes, each wrapped in white and tied with a red ribbon. Then, it is explained to us that these boxes contain all the blessings for which people still on earth had never got around to asking. The idea is that God has many blessings, ones He wants to give us, but we must ask Him for those blessings. Jabez is doing just that when he asks God to bless him indeed, meaning bless him abundantly. When we pray the Prayer of Jabez, we can ask God to bless us abundantly too. PR 10: 22, “The Lord’s blessing is our greatest wealth; all our work adds nothing to it.”
There is something very special that sets apart blessings the Lord is eager to give us from the perceived “blessings” of this world. I have often told the story of my now-deceased mother-in-law’s diamond rings. I have a keen memory of these three rings on her hands. They looked lovely on her, and I used to watch her hands as she played bridge, cooked, or moved them in the course of conversing with others. The diamonds glinted in the changing light. Her long illness which culminated with her death was a sad time for the entire family. Because Peter is an only child, I ended up with her rings. Today, they sit in my jewelry box, because they don’t fit me and I have no desire to wear anything that fancy. They are a reminder to me that material things, no matter how pretty they are, do not transcend the grave. My mother-in-law was a good person, one who I believe is at home with the Father. She was a loving wife and mother. While prejudice on this subject, I think she did a splendid job raising her son. Those are the blessings that come from God, the ones that transcend the grave and live on forever. I was glad to have had the chance to know her, even if it was for too short a time.
One beautiful story which gives a hint at how blessed God wants us to be is that of Moses in EX 33 and 34. EX 33: 18-23, “Then, Moses requested, ‘Please, let me see the dazzling light of Your presence.’ The Lord answered, ‘I will make all My splendor pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce My sacred name. I am the Lord, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose. I will not let you see My face, because no one can see Me and stay alive, but here is a place beside Me where you can stand on a Rock. When the dazzling light of My presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the Rock and cover you will My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back but not My face.’” EX 34: 6, “The Lord then passed in front of him and called out, ‘I, the Lord, am a God Who is full of compassion and pity, Who is not easily angered and Who shows great love and faithfulness.’” It was not a typo that I capitalized the “R” on Rock. That is because I believe this to be the greatest blessing of all, the presence of the Rock, Jesus Christ, God's Son Who died so that we could be saved. God’s hand is another way of expressing His power, the power He uses to bless and guide us to eternal life with Him. I urge you to begin praying the Prayer of Jabez everyday, so that God can send the packages in His warehouse of blessings to you. That is something He is eager to do if we will seek Him out.
PRAYER: O Lord, You are the ideal for how a parent should be. Our happiness and well-being is of paramount concern to You. That is why You are so eager to bless each of us who love You abundantly. You store up these blessings in heaven and await the time when we are faithful enough to seek You out for them. By doing this, we respond to Your ultimate and supreme sovereignty over us in a way that pleases You. Thus, when we ask You to bless us, You are pleased too. It is when we forget to seek You out that You experience the disappointment of having to warehouse the blessings You are so anxious for us to have. We often mistake material and earthly things for blessings. People who seek out that kind of wealth don’t realize that the only real wealth in this world is that which is stored in heaven. Your own Son spoke to us about this in MT 6: 19-21. “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where the moths and rust cannot destroy, robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” Part of storing up our riches in heaven is seeking You out to ask You to bless us with the things that transcend the grave. We acknowledge our need to do this and You, as the sovereign and supreme Lord of our lives. We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the second element of Jabez’s prayer: “Oh, that You would enlarge my territory!” God’s love is always there for us. It is the powerful force which brings goodness, provision, protection, guidance, His word, healing, and comfort into our lives. His directive is that we should pray for His blessings every day. Now, that Dear Ones, is real love. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn