God Granted Jabez's Request
I would imagine that most of us have heard of the prayer of Jabez. Whole books have been written about this prayer. It is a gem dropped by God into the midst of all of the genealogies at the beginning of I Chronicles. I don't want to delve into it because it is rather famous. I want us to try to draw out some very relevant truths that will help us have God answer our requests, too.
We are told that Jabez was born after his mother went through a lot of pain and trouble in childbirth. That is why she named him Jabez, which means "sorrowful, or he makes sorrowful." (I Chronicles 4:10) Later in his life Jabez prayed to God and asked for God's blessing to be on him and to expand his territory. He asked God to be with him in all he did and to keep him from all trouble and pain. Those were the requests God granted for Jabez.
I believe God granted the requests of Jabez for at least two reasons. To begin with, this is a very humble prayer. Jabez wasn't demanding anything of God. He simply asked for God to bless him and expand his territory as God would deem fit to do it. It seems that he knew God's way of blessing us is always better than what we would imagine or think. I pray we would all trust God in this humble way as we talk with him every day. He also expressed his need for God to be with him in all he did. That was an admission of weakness and a cry of help that God heard and answered.
The part that is perplexing is that God decided to deliver Jabez from all trouble and pain. God doesn't do that for very many people. He even sends trouble into our lives sometimes, so we can trust Him more and get stronger in our faith. It could be that God saw how much he had suffered already, so He had mercy on him and granted this request. I see God doing that in the Bible at times, and I believe He will still do it today in certain instances. Therefore, when we pray let's humbly throw ourselves on the mercy of God and see what He decides to do.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read I Chronicles 5-7.