Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request
As my wife and I normally do we attended the worship service at our church. On this particular Sunday our Pastor spoke on the prayer of Jabaz. I have heard sermons in the past on this little known person in the bible, but what I had forgotten was the cultural context of his name. In those days children were given names that represented what their families were experiencing in life. As in the case of Jabaz his name meant sorrow and pain because his mom's child birth had been particularly painful. 'Wow! Not sure if I want to walk around trying to live down the meaning of my name.It seems that God specializes using the most insignificant people in the bible to do mighty things. This little prayer offered up by a insignificant figure serves as a reminder how God does answer prayer. We are reminded daily through the news media how dangerous is the world,. God reminds us that when we pray to him he will make the place we are in safe and secure just like he granted Jabaz his request.
When families are in the depths of grief it is normal to feel as though pain and sorrow is their closest friend. We are reminded in Jabaz's prayer that the best thing we can do when we are in pain is to bring our pain to the Savior. It is our Savior who understands thoroughly what it is like to suffer. It is God who understands what it means to lose a son.
On the same day as our worship service Linda and I attended our first Life group. This group is made up of 3 other couples from our church who meet for friendship, relationship building and prayer support. Ecclesiates 4:12 reminds us that 3 strands are not easily broken and when we meet with others we stand a greater chance of surviving the chaos in the world.
Our God answers prayers! That is very good news. To think he took the pain and sorrow of Jabaz and made him free from pain reminds us that God can take any terrible tragedy in our lives and turn it into something good. So go ahead and pray to God because we have a God who answers prayers.
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