Who, you may be asking, is Jabez? Well, he could be any one of us who was born into difficult circumstances and not wanted. In fact he appears in the first book of Chronicles in the Old Testament in the middle of a geneological list of the Descendants of Judah. Suddenly, after “Koz begot Anub, Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum”, Jabez appears as a ‘live person’ standing out among this list of names.
“Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain’. 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 make known that You will not humble me. And God made it all happen as he requested.” The translation in which I first encountered Jabez renders his prayer, ‘Lord bless me, extend my boundaries that You may be with me, and do not cause me any pain, nor let me cause any pain.” (1 Chron.4:9-10)
What strikes me about this prayer is the trust in God that he has, in order to ask Him to bless, but not to cause him pain, or humble him again. But also the fact that through being honourable, he knows God’s way, and can trust God with his darkness, and ask that his boundaries be extended in God. He knew he was powerless to do this himself as he had no human life-giving inner resources of love, but desired the Kingdom of Heaven.
When I first started praying this prayer, I was praying out of awareness of my pain, and my powerlessness to overcome the sense of loss that imprisoned me. But I was beginning to hold on to some trust in God, and began to be aware of what ‘extend my boundaries’ might mean in truth. I gradually recognised the process of becoming ‘more human’…… and, for example, feeling feelings that I had buried . I remember coming back to my house one day expecting that the builder (a member of the same church) would still be working. He had finished for the day and I came back to an empty house. All the pain and memories of my school days letting myself in to an empty house flooded back. But having acknowledged this pain, I found healing through my tears and calling on Jesus, and the prayers for healing offered by others.
Also extending my boundaries, I was encouraged to go to L’Abri in Switzerland to the community set up by Francis Schaeffer. I finally arranged it, and went for 3 months. I experienced ‘family’ in this place, softening my heart further, and a taste of monastic obedience and living in community. Half a day was for study, half for serving the community, but one day a week we had to go out and I rediscovered art in the wonderful galleries in Lausanne and nearer by. I learned humility too! One day, needing to sort out a washer load of white socks, I cried out to God, ‘What am I doing with a PhD sorting socks?’ My question was not answered directly, but I heard, ‘Can you do it?’ ‘No!’ came my disgruntled reply. ‘Then you’d better ask for grace then.’ I did..and did it…glory to God.
This Jabez prayer is a witness to God’s love for the humble and broken hearted who do not have the richness and blessings of human love deep within. In humility we are invited to acknowledge our pain and loss rather than deny it – and cry out to God from within it – in our darkness. Thus our dependency is totally on God, not the vain treasures of the world, or human help. So I have been blessed to believe the prophecy in Isaiah: “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 45:3). Prayer by prayer, the treasures of darkness are revealed, and the hidden riches of love that come from God enable us to understand what St Paul was saying when he said that he counted ‘every loss as gain’, in knowing more of Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are being invited in this prayer to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His life, and find balance and wisdom, grace and truth, gentleness, compassion and mercy to the weak, in ourselves, and to others. God’s promises show us the Way.
Finding Pearls in God's Care In being led from slavery My God, I sense I do not live; But I find an inner bravery The world can never give. In the cloud in desert waste My God, I think I'll die of thirst; But find the Living Water baste The heart that did not trust. In the shadow of Your wing My God, life seems very dark; But I find the Light that praises bring, And I hear Your call apart. In the palm of Your hand My God, it seems I cannot move; But I discover inner land Your love and grace to prove. In the quieting of Your love My God, I sense emptiness; But find the infinite gentle dove And am filled with bounteousness. In seeing the Promised Land My God, I cannot find the way; But You take me by the hand And give me strength to fight the fray. As the apple of Your eye My God, it seems my heart will burst; But knowing the love of Heaven high My soul will never thirst. Chorus: Oh Glory to God the Father, And praise to Christ the King, In the Life of the Holy Spirit, My heart will ever sing.
Dear Lord strengthen us that we may persevere in love of You, without fear, to seek the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Holy Spirit from within our darkness, ‘Out of the depths I have cried to You, Hear my prayer’. Give us ears to hear You and Heart to receive. Amen