TODAY’S MEDITATION – What made God to stop on Jabez to answer His prayer? (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)

God stops to point out a man named Jabez and answers his prayer. My brother, my sister, what an example for us!

Today’s passage says this: “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’ And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “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, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.”

The Word of God calls Jabez more honorable than his brothers. Why? Because he prayed a prayer that got God’s attention. At the time of his request, Jabez was in the process of expelling the Canaanites from the land the Lord had promised Israel. He was doing the work God had given him to do, and so he was asking the Lord to help him accomplish it. The most interesting thing to notice here is that Jabez wasn’t just looking at his holdings, like the rich fool in Jesus’ parable, who had so much, he tore down his barns to hold it, not aware that God would take his life before he could enjoy his holdings. Jabez was asking for all that God had for him, and for God’s help in doing his part. My friend, that’s one of the key to God answering Jabez.

The first key is on found verse 9: “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers”. If there ever was someone who could be bitter, it was Jabez. His very name could have driven him to a life of hate and bitterness (causing pain). God called Jabez more honorable than his brothers. Why? Because he was a man of prayer and he knew the source of his blessings could come from God alone: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

The second key is that Jabez trusted in God, the capable God! Prayer, as Jabez understood it, was not for the purpose of getting things from God, but rather for the purpose of provoking God’s help for him to be able to accomplish those things He had already promised to do through the labours of His servants. In that sense, our prayer must conform to the will of God. My friend, if you intend to pray for what God has promised, you must know what God has promised. In the case of Jabez, he knew that God had promised to give them the possession of the land, and that He had promised to provide Israel with the power to accomplish that end. Thus, Jabez asked God to bless and protect him for that.

My friend, why do you want the protection and blessing of God for? Yet, if you give yourself to God, you can become all that God wants you to be, and wants to make you. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.