May 16, 2025 - 1 Chronicles 4:10 - "The Prayer of Jabez"

1 Chronicles 4:10

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

Testimonies abound from people who say they've prayed this Jabez' prayer and were blessed and received what they asked. Years ago, this was the rage as preachers would use Jabez' prayer as a formula, praying exactly as he prayed it, impressing their hearers that God would answer them according to their desires. And yet, not all answered prayer is necessarily a blessing. When the children of Israel loathed that manna that God had given them (a type of the LORD Jesus), they began to crave meat and asked for it from God. The scripture says, "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague" (Numbers 11:33). He sent leanness to their soul. Was this how Jabez himself prayed? Was this the essence of what he was asking?

It says, he called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed." When we ask God to bless us, what are we asking? In James 4:3, the apostle warns the readers, saying, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." This is not how Jabez was praying, being led by the Spirit, which is the only form of true prayer (Romans 8:26). He was praying that, according to God's Word, God might be pleased to enlarge the coast of His people in Israel. He was praying according to the Word. "And that thine hand might be with me." How does God place His hand upon a sinner? How can He, being a holy God, keep me from evil? Because the very thing that you ask of God may be for your destruction, how is it that a sinner should pray that God should answer with blessing and not a curse?

First, Jabez called on the God of Israel. Every word of Scripture is inspired by God and therefore vital for our instruction (2 Timothy 3:16). So here the question is, Who is the God of Israel? It's not just saying that He's the God of the Jews. But when you read this in the Scripture, the God of Israel, the first thing we need to note is that He's the Sovereign God, not only Sovereign over the nation of Israel, but all nations. To enlarge the borders of Israel, He would have to move other nations aside for them to live in that land. Therefore, to say that God is the God of Israel is to declare Him as Sovereign. In Deuteronomy 7:6, we read, "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." God having set them apart unto holiness, God having given them the oracles that pertain to the priesthood, those robes of holiness that they wore, those sacrifices that they offered, all of that was a type and picture of how God declares a people holy in Christ. For God to be the God of Israel means that He's Sovereign God above all other people on the earth. At this time, He chose this people and set them above all the other nations as favored because Christ the promised Seed was to come from the seed of David and the tribe of Judah. They were favored for Christ. the Promised Seed's sake (Galatians 3:16).

However, Christ having come in the fullness of the time (Galatians 4:4), His wrath fell on them to the uttermost as an apostate nation (1 Thessalonians 2:16). In 70 A.D. God destroyed the temple in Jerusalem by the invading Roman armies. Why? Because Christ has come and fulfilled all of those Old Testament types, pictures, prophecies, and promises. The only reason why God preserved them as a nation was because he purposed to bring His Son through them. That's the God of Israel. That's who Jabez was addressing. He wasn't praying for everybody in Israel, but the remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5).

Second, Jabez asked that God bless him indeed. Men look for temporal and transient blessings. They crave wealth. They crave honor. They desire health, long life, and comfort. These are usually what men pray for in the flesh. According to Scripture, for God to bless indeed is to grant the blessings of His grace in Christ. As it says in Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." How? In Christ Jesus. Where's your mind right now? Is it upon you? Is it upon this life, and what you hope to obtain, all the while leaning on your 'god,' to help you? Paul wrote to the Colossians, in Colossians 3:2, "set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." True blessings are those that flow from the crucified and risen Saviour. What are those blessings that every sinner ought to be most concerned about and desire? Pardon, acquittal before a holy God, forgiveness of sins, a perfect righteousness that will stand us before a holy God, and peace with God. All of that is established through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5).

Any blessing that comes because of Christ's redeeming work at the cross, whereby God has already justified once and for all those He gave to His Son, is everlasting indeed. If someone can't say "amen" to that, it shows that the heart is not on things of God, and the prayers and the endeavors are nothing more than self-serving wishes and NOT prayer. That's idolatry. It would be best if God would take everything away and settle a person down so that all they can do is sit and listen to the Gospel of Christ, at His feet as Mary did, where the LORD commended her for doing the one thing needful (Luke 10:42). Many of the Lord's people can testify as to how the Lord has used afflictions to wean them from this world and turn their thoughts to Christ, turn their thoughts to eternity, in the importance of being in Him. That is a blessing indeed.