Enduring Inspite of The Circumstances

Little is known of this biblical character Jabez. He comes listed only under the lineage of Judah, he seems to be misplaced here in this verse coming from no where and headed for some where. He comes in at verse nine and leaves at verse eleven two verses, and yet there is something more, there is a substance, and solitude to this man. In his obscure existence, we may each find a lesson on life. He comes born during a time of stress and war. He receives a name to guarantee a future of trouble and heartache, and tears. His mother calls him Jabez, because he was born with much sorrow. This child is unlike any of her others with whom she has showered love and nurture and encouragement. This child has come at the wrong time and he will not, succeed so she asks herself what is the point?
O my friend how shortsighted we at times have become. We cannot see the forest for the trees. We miss the rainbow because we look only at the darkened clouds of rain. Far too often, we miscalculate what is good for us and, how we shall be able to apply it in the future. We hold our breath expecting the worst and feeling certain only evil and despair is soon to come. How often do those things we expect for our disaster suddenly turn to our benefit? Have you ever cried and cried knowing that a child or a friend was so badly out of line that there remained no hope without the intervention of God, and that wasn’t looking to promising the way they were living? And just as soon as you were prepared to give up, to quit, to stop the praying, that person came under Holy Ghost conviction, and was saved in dramatic fashion.
The bible calls Jabez more honorable than his brethren. He is honorable because he trusts in an unknown hand to guide his life. Further, more, some scholars believe that he may be a gentile.
The reason is that the Old Testament Patriarchs called upon God as the God of our fathers.
New Testament Apostles would pray to God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Still further adding to the mix there are traditions in the Jewish heritage, which attribute Jabez with founding a school, being a great teacher and having a multitude of disciples see verse55.
In either case, Jabez leaves these formalities aside and scripture says that Jabez called on the God of Israel. The point to having these names for God was the belief that by having these sir names, one could call upon God and he would not only hear the prayer, he would answer it as well. Obviously, Jabez simply cries out a simple heart felt prayer with little formality, but with a tremendous amount of sincerity. This is what God wants our sincerity, rather than a hollow and shallow formality. He simply asks,”o that thou would bless me indeed.”
Jabez’s name means sorrowful, and perhaps his mother could only see him with fear and a weariness that eclipses, comfort in wartime. Unfortunately this young mother cannot associate and joy or happiness with this child’s birth. I wonder if his young mother lived to see her son grown to manhood. I wonder if she lived to see her words ring hollow in the success of her boy. How often also do we quickly apply the Jabez to things, which we cannot understand?
My friend we cannot underestimate the blessings that God has in store for us. That is what we do when we bury ourselves under the mounds of defeatism, and pessimistic calculations that leave out the prime factor of divine guidance. Moreover, we have here before this evening just such a calculation:

I.                   A gem of a prayer seeking Gods blessing.

A.                                       It is a prayer seeking to push out borders of Oppression.
In this day of conformist dreams and cookie cutter idealism, I believe God wants us to break away from the herd. I believe he would have us to expand our borders, to stretch ourselves until we find out why we believe in the things that we do. Come then, let us draw deeply from the waters of life, and let us go to the well spring of God and drink until our thirst subsides. Let us find mercy that has no ends, and kindness that cannot cease. We must push out those things, which seek to confine us to weight us down, and to destroy our lives.
The need to push out the borders of spiritual insight. The borders that we keep around our homes in our closets and on the coffee table, those spiritual ideas that we attach ourselves to without supportive evidence for their existence. Jabez found spiritual insight by seeking God’s direction that alone allowed him to purse the tearing down of the walls that would hold him hostage throughout his life.

There is an old Will Rogers song that says, “don’t fence me in”. I want wide-open prairie and tall range grass, do not fence me in. My friend that is exactly why we must ask God to expand our borders. We cannot live fenced in a small spiritual landscape. Do you crave a deeper relationship in your Christian walk? Push those borders out! Push as though your very life depended upon it. Push as if it were a great weight trying to crush your very life out. It is worse than that and it will kill your witness your peace and your joy if you allow it to live. Push and struggle to see the borders of Christ’s kingdom expanded to all parts of every community.

B.                                       Jabez’s prayer is for a stirring of Spirit

We cannot leave our knees in prayer to God if we have not been stirred in the farthest reaches of our spirit. The prayer closet is empty if one’s spirit has not been stirred when they exit. Once the Holy Spirit of the almighty presence of God has touched us, the scales fall from our eyes and we never see the same way again.
Jabez wanted something more than just a brief talk with God. O my friend that He might stir our Sprits today. That He might as Isaiah 64; 1 says, rend the heavens that he might come down and stir us up. When a stirring comes it will not allow us to rest. It does allow us to feel the unsettling effects of a thin and shallow relationship with Him.

II.                JABEZ OFFERS A GENIUINE PRAYER

A.                                       He seeks a personal blessing.
Acts 3:26
Genesis 12: 2
Genesis 32:26
That is often the case for our prayer. We seek a blessing an interaction, an import of God’s work in our own affairs in life. Jabez sought God’s introspection of his life. He welcomes and invites God to come and intercede on his behalf.
He cries the cry of every lost soul that has encountered Christ Jesus. Give me the cross of Christ rather than the crown of the world.

B.                                       He seeks a national blessing.
Joshua 14:12
Proverbs 10:22
2Corinthians 9:8
That God would enlarge the coverage of his kingdom. In doing so perhaps, Jabez would spread the proclamation of God’s blessings upon the people.

III.             A great grant that comes when we hold on to genuine prayer.

1.                          The grant of strength and victory over evil personified. Hebrews 3:6/Heb 10:35. 1John 3:21

2.                          The grant of God’s presence through out the day to day pilgrimage of life Phil 3:3-4.

3.                          The attribution of His promises as we seek the welfare of our nation, and our neighbor, before our own benefit is realized 2Cor 7:4.