The Prayer of Jabez

Our text speaks about the prayer of Jabez. It is said that his mother called his name Jabez because she bore him with sorrow. We must realize that because of the fall, birth can only be with sorrow, for “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one” (Job 14:4). If parents may have an impression of what we are because of the fall, then their hearts would be pained and the tears would flow to see that their little child is unclean. The sorrow in the heart of the mother of Jabez was a fruit of our deep fall.

The birth of Jabez was for a purpose. In the first book of Chronicles these two verses of Scripture are inserted among all those names like an oasis or a fountain of instruction. We are told something remarkable about this person whose name means sorrowful, namely, that he “was more honourable than his brethren.” He was born in the tribe of Judah. We know that Judah was the son of Jacob and the great-grandson of Abraham, the father of all the faithful. From the tribe of Judah, Christ would be born. A man will be “more honourable” than others only by grace, for otherwise we are all the same. There is no difference, for all the seeds of evil are in every heart.

To be honorable is the fruit of Christ, for it is only by the grace of Him who was of the tribe of Judah, according to the eternal will and love of God the Father. It was by His grace that Jabez was more honorable, evidenced by the fact that he was a praying man. What a blessing if that may also be our portion as we enter into a new season. To be a praying man indicates that one has a refuge in heaven.

Oh, friends, who is our God, and who is our refuge? Where is our hope and expectation for the unknown future, for that dark future before us? Where is our refuge? We may ask you who are fathers, where is the hope for you, your wife, and your dear children? Jabez had a God to whom he could go. This was not an image, not an idol, not a god of man’s making. It was the God of Israel.

His word “oh” came out of the depth of his heart. If we pray with our mind only, then we can sound quite nice to others; but we may be jealous of Jabez. He was saying, “Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed.” He began with himself. Young friends, men and women, this I also wish for you. I would say, “Children, bow your knees every day and try to utter those words. Who can tell what the Lord will do?” With this prayer we can enter the new season.

The result of Jabez’s supplication was that the Lord gave him what he requested, namely, repentance unto the remission of sin. What a fullness is experienced in true repentance unto remission!

Further in his prayer we read “and enlarge my coasts.” It could even be that he meant the enlargement of his property, that he might deal honestly, pay his debts, face his creditors, and support his family honorably. In that way we may ask for a larger farm. However, we may also seek such a blessing in order to have something for the service of the Lord, for the church, for the school, and for the poor. It is a curse if we are not willing to give anything, or only a little bit. May the Lord grant us to learn from these things.

I believe that when Jabez prayed, “Enlarge my coast,” that he was also asking, “O Lord, may it please Thee to give me more childlike faith.” To trust in the Lord is such a great grace. The exercised people of God are grieved if they cause God grief. But then Jabez continued, saying, “And that Thine hand might be with me.” When meditating upon this, I thought of Asaph in Psalm 73, who might experience that the Lord had taken him by his right hand. When he experienced this, did he desire more of the things of the wicked? No, but then he could say that this was his life and this was all his pleasure.

We also read that Jabez said, “That Thou wouldest keep me from evil.” What a blessed place he was in! I hope that each of you individually, and as families, may read this and discuss it. Fathers, if you have never done so before, then you may now say, “Wife and children, I must do something that I have never done before. Let us all bow our knees and pray together.” If you lack words, then recite the words of Jabez. The Lord knows that we cannot do anything right, but He desires to be inquired of in this way.

Every year we have a prayer day as we enter the new season, but there should be a prayer service every day. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, what a beautiful prayer this is: “That Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me.” “And God granted him that which he requested.” Young friends, may this also happen to you. In my life there came a time that I could not go to bed without reading the Bible, sometimes until two o’clock in the morning. There was a searching, seeking, and crying, asking the Lord to think upon me. May the Lord grant this to you.

We stand at the beginning of a new season in which there are so many obstacles. When there is not even a prayer in our hearts, unconverted persons have to learn that they have no refuge, no way to go. A way has to be made, and that is in the Son of God, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We stand at the beginning of a new season in which we could die. The judgments of the Lord can be multiplied, but what shall it then be if we have no refuge?

Oh, unconverted ones, I hope that the Lord will give light to shine in the darkness. If that happens, then you will not have to memorize this prayer, for then it will come of itself. “Oh, may Thou bless me indeed.” That is a prayer which becomes reality when the Lord works. Such persons do not have so many nice phrases in their prayers.

I hope that the Lord will again give that there are those who receive the name of Christian, as did the disciples, and that there may be something of that same anointing. Then they will be a separate people and yet a light in the world. They are a people who are different, not different in themselves, but made so by the Lord. We do not know what is before us, and yet we know, without a doubt, that it shall go well with the righteous, and it shall be ill with the wicked.

— Rev. J. Spaans
(Norwich, ON)

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