Coming out of impossible situations
1 Chr 4:9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in(my) pain."10 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. (NKJ)
Ø His mother named him distress because she had such a hard time at his birth!
o I wonder what she named her other children.
Ø I never asked to be born into this family, I know if you would have asked I would have said “NO”
Ø He was given a name, an identity from his mother’s pain! That is often where we get such titles and judgments, from other peoples hurts. Hurt people hurt people!
v You’re Parents? You’re Friends? You’re culture and people? (You don’t understand we’re Czech... people will call us a sect if we follow Jesus all the way.
v Yourself? This is the one that has the most effect on our lives (I’m old, young, big, small, weak, ugly, sickly, slow, stupid, fat, etc...)
· Where do you get your name from? What do you call yourself?
· You’re going to have to break loose from what anyone says and thinks to be able to reach up to God!
Coming out of situations, that are impossible, out of things you cannot change
Going beyond the search for answers to the questions, why?
- Jabez called
- Distress and pain called…
- I don’t feel like praying, I am suffering.
- Do it in the midst of suffering, do it afraid, do it in your pain, do it poor, and do it NOW!
- He kept the name and changed the behavior; he didn’t let it stop him from coming to God.
- on the God of Israel
- We call on many things, but do we call on the Lord? Social office, friends, Pastor, Church, psychiatrist, the bank, fortune tellers, horoscopes, etc…
- You would bless me indeed
- Not little things like, stop the people from being mean, give me revenge, don’t stay around the problem, rise above it.
- Call on him for a blessing! Bless me in a great way, give me room and influence, not just enough. God likes big things.
- enlarge my territory
- Make me big enough to hold all your blessings.
- My Mom always said don’t be afraid of a dog that barks, Big bark=little heart. She knew that I wanted to be bigger quickly but that I was not ready for the big things of life.
- would be with me
- Jabez knew that having the Lord with him was his guarantee of success.
- See I will be with you pages!
- You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain
o The hurts that we continue to carry around from others will manifest and hurt us and others.
o The first evil is the hurt I receive from others.
o The second is what I keep I use on others too.
§ I.e. I feel rejected, I reject. I get defensive, distrusting, judgmental of people’s motives etc..
· God granted him what he requested.