Pastor Rob Henderson
Shelby Wesleyan Church
Corner of State & Ferry
Shelby, MI 49455
https://www.angelfire.com/mi2/robhenderson/
robnaomi@oceana.net
1 Chronicles 4 September 26, 1999 am
If you were given the opportunity to be born again would you do it all over? If you could choose to be born of a different family, different circumstances, or different place would you consider starting life all over again?
Have you ever wondered if your life would be a better blessed now if your parents were somebody else or if the circumstances that you were born in would be different or you had been born in a different place?
I believe that there are those here who would say without hesitation that they were born into a great family with great parents and great circumstances and would change nothing. There are also those who would, without hesitation, take God up on the opportunity. They would love to have nicer parents or a nicer place or economic status to grow under. And then there are the rest who would say that they weren’t real sure what to do.
Me? I would leave things the way they are. I would make no changes because who I am in Christ Jesus is not based on ethnic background or a father’s choice but based on God’s love for me.
And we see here in this scripture this morning Jabez: a man who was more honorable than his brothers. But before we look at him let’s see what mom was like. Let’s see who mom was and what kind of influence it had on Jabez’s life.
His mother gave birth to him in pain and sorrow. She was going through a difficult time of suffering and named Jabez according to her circumstance.
I recall the pregnancy and birth of our eldest daughter, Charity. Naomi and I were going through a very difficult time financially when we lived in Florida. We literally were trying to pay out more money than was coming in. The medical bills were unbelievable. But we needed that proper care.
As we sorted through the various names we finally settled on two. One being Nathaniel David- provided a boy was born. The other was Charity Nicole. We liked the name Charity because we wanted her to be a loving person who would bless others with her caring. Nicole had personal meaning to me. Despite tough times for us she would be our victory. Nicole means victorious in times of distress.
Jabez’s mother was going through a difficult time. And whenever somone goes through a time of stress and distress three possible reactions can occur (maybe more, maybe all three, maybe none of them): loneliness, hurt, and desperation.
Lonely for someone to reach out to and share the sorrow; feeling as though there is someone to talk to or some one who understands. There are a lot of people here who at some time and maybe even now feels lonely.
Hurt by the pain of sorrow. Her spirit was hurt and she grieved. Isaiah tells us that he will heal the bruised reed. Maybe today there are some bruised reeds.
Desperate for a touch of healing. Physical pain can be intolerable at times. I have had my share of excruciating pain in the back or shoulder. But emotional pain is worse. Hurting where no one can see. Feeling pain and feeling helpless. Only God can comfort that kind of suffering.
Scholars are unable to truly trace Jabez and who he was and what his family was all about. Obviously, speculation can take over and guesswork becomes an option in order to try and get a grasp of the meaning of the scripture.
Perhaps his mother was going through the death of a loved one. Maybe even his own father might have died young and tragically. Who knows? Perhaps his birth was untimely and unwanted.
Whatever the circumstances sorrow was brought to the heart of a mother and in turn to the heart of a child.
And there is nothing that bothers me more than a hurting child. And more so than that, a hurting child of God. Because I happen to believe that God is there and He hears and He cares.
He cared about Jabez.
The words of a DC Talk song sums up Jabez and his prayer: “I need an intervention, a touch of Providence “It goes beyond religion to my very circumstance.”
God truly is an intervention to those who are hurting and those who want a freedom from the pain of human suffering. They want something that is real. They want a fulfillment that only God can meet.
Jabez was named because of his mother’s sorrow and grief and pain from life itself. He was branded by name: a reminder of her circumstances that he was born into.
I cannot help but think of all of the unfairness in the world. Children born into families that are going to hurt them. Children born into streets of anger and alleys of addictions. Children who grow up not being loved or cared about.
Yes! the world is unfair and this isn’t the way life was supposed to be!
So what do we do? How do we respond to what is unfair in our life?
What if Jabez had brooded through life because of the unhappy times of childhood? What if he had decided that life was not fair and that he was going to play the game of life with anger at everyone around him including God? We would be deprived of this scripture. And deprived of an example of prayer.
I appreciate Jabez: what he stood for and what he prayed for. There are many lessons for us to learn today. This scripture tells us of God’s love, God’s protection, and God’s comfort.
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. Jabez lived a life of example that was more honorable than not simply his family but his contemporaries. We need men and women of God who will walk talks that reflect their faith in a God who is there. We need men and women of God who will be what God says they are. We need men and women of God who will stand up and be counted as people of faith. Jabez’s life was an example of his faith in God. He was more honorable than those around him.
Jabez’s life was not what he said to others but what others saw in him. And obviously the Chronicler saw something of a witness of God’s love when he inserted this small addendum to the clans of Judah.
Jabez was honorable not because of his history. There are so many who live their lives based on mom and dad. They are expected to behave a certain way or participate in certain behavior because of the family lineage. There are those who are given certain recognition because they have blue-blood. Yes, I would agree that our blood-line and our heritage is important and something we should be proud of, if we can, but being honorable is not something we inherit but something we live.
Jabez was honorable because of his attitude: Bless me. His prayer reflects who was a part of his life. And that who was God. God made all the difference in the way he lived. He was honorable and held in high-esteem by those around him because of God in his life. He did not sacrifice his future on the altar of the past. He lay his future on the altar of God let God do as he willed.
Jabez cried out to the Lord: “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!” Jabez was not being a power hungry tribal leader but he was asking that God would provide for his needs. Jabez understood the situation he was in. It seems to me that he did not have a family inheritance to depend on and so he was depending on the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
Jabez understood what many of us fail to comprehend and that is God can and will provide for our needs. I believe that God reaches us at our point of need in spite of our surroundings and in regard to our surroundings. The needs and desires that we have here in America would not likely be the same needs and desires in the Philippines. God sees where we live and the “coasts” that make up our boundaries. God wants us to depend on him and his hand of love to see our needs and desires in life met.
We live in a blessed nation. We are a blessed nation because we had fore-fathers who believed in a God who would build this country. America is still considered a Christian nation. We thrived and prospered because God has recognized our willingness to commit our ways to Him. However, we are in danger.
Our nation is in a moral crisis. We recognize God in name only. But do we really know who we are praying to? Do we really hear His voice and follow after Him?
We need some Jabezes to stand up and be more honorable than their contemperaries. We need some Jabezes to cry out to God for help and deliverance. We need Godly, honorable men and women and teenagers and boys and girls.
Is there a Jabez here today?
Jabez goes on to pray: “Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”
In the midst of the Lord’s prayer Jesus speaks these words: “Deliver us from evil.”
Evil lurks every where. Tragedy is on the news every night, I see it in the newpaper. Sin, death, pain, and suffering. We see or hear of it every day. And some times it reaches into our own lives and brushes us with a color that can never be washed away. “Keep me from harm.”
The prayer of every soldier entering the battle field. The words of every person facing a tough trial or tribulation. The prayer of those who know that evil is out steal, kill, and destroy.
Why keep me from harm? “So that I will be free from pain.”
We can go to the pharmacy and get Bayer, or tums, or tylenol or any other medications to absolve us from pain for a little while. But Jabez saw that in order to live a life free from pain that he needed to be safe from evil.
And for any of us to live a life of freedom we need to be kept safe from evil. It is easy enough, I guess, for me to live a life of safety. Being careful, stopping at stop signs. But I still need someone to watch over me. I still need someone going ahead into battle and fighting the battle for me.
Jabez, like the other Old Testament saints, was looking ahead to the promise of Jesus Christ. He was looking ahead to the promise that Christ fulfilled.
We all want to be free from pain. And God provides the answer.
“Heavenly Father,
We thank you for providing all of our needs according to your riches in glory. We thank you for the blessing of your son, Jesus Christ, who gives us salvation full and free. Father, today we commit to you our walk, our talk, our lives. We desire for you to be number one. Thank you for accepting us.
We pray that you would bless each of us. Increase our boundaries so that our needs and even our Godly desires might be granted from your abundant hand. May your hand watch over us and protect us from the sun by day and the moon by night. Deliver us from the evil one. May Satan not have a foothold in our lives so that we can live safe Godly lives for your glory.
Save us in the times of sorrow and suffering. Heal us of our infirmities and raise us one day to life everlasting.
In Jesus Name
(And all of God’s people said) Amen!
