Sunday

How do you want God to bless you?

Do you want God to bless you with health, riches, power, beauty, wisdom, the winning lottery ticket?

How do you think Dana and Jim want God to bless Alec? Do you think their desires are any different from their own parent’s desires when they had them baptized? Do you think they are any different from any other parent or for that matter for what you want for yourself?

“Oh that you would bless me.”

What do you think Jabez wanted, when he prayed this prayer?

The truth is there is very little known about Jabez. In the midst of the roll call of who’s who in the tribe of Judah we read in 1 Chronicles 4:9,10 all there is to know about him.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez saying,

“I gave birth to him in pain.”

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.

Jabez, he was more honorable than his brothers, God only knows what his brothers were like. His mother had a very painful time giving birth to him, so to get even she gave him the name, Jabez, which means pain. He prays a simple prayer AND God honors his prayer.

So how did God bless Jabez?

It would appear that we haven’t the foggiest idea, but the exact opposite is true. While we don’t know the specifics of his request or the specifics of God’s answers, lets see if we can’t gain some insight for our daily living from Jabez’s simple prayer.

“Oh that you would bless me.”

The intent of Jabez’s prayer was to ask from God nothing more than what God wanted for him. Bruce Wilkinson uses an analogy in his book, The Prayer of Jabez to describe how most people come to God and ask for His blessing. He depicts humanity coming to the river of God’s blessing with a cup asking for God to fill it. What God wants to give us is not a cup full of blessing. No, what God wants is that you and I would jump into the river of His blessings. That we would allow the loving currents of God’s grace and power to carry us along in life.

The intent of Jabez’s prayer is similar to the request you and I make every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer,

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

We are asking God to bless us this day with His sustaining presence and Spirit.

Unfortunately, we are often left with a feeling that God didn’t hear or answer our prayers. The reason for this is that we fail to recognize God’s blessings because we let obstacles, persons, events or opinions to loom larger than God’s nature. An unknown confederate soldier is given credit for being the author of the following:

I asked God for strength,
that I might achieve.

I was made weak,
that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health,
that I might do great things.

I was given infirmity,
that I might do better things.

I asked God for riches,
that I might be happy.

I was given poverty,
that I might be wise.

I asked God for power,
that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness,
that I might feel the need of God.

I asked God for things,
that I might enjoy life.

I was given life,
that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for,
but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all,
most richly blessed.

We fail to embrace the nature of God revealed to us in Romans 8:22 that “In all things also interpreted as everything, not some things, but everything works for the good of those who love God.”

Blessing is part of the nature of God. One of the most important concepts in the Bible is blessing. From God’s blessing of creation, to sustaining creation with His blessings, to His blessing of specific individuals Abram, Moses, Joshua, David, and His blessing of the Israelites. Unfortunately history also reveals that those He blessed misinterpreted God’s blessings. They thought God was at their beck and call. They ignored God’s Word that linked obedience with blessing and curses with disobedience.

I wonder if we have learned anything from history? It seems all too often we want God’s blessings and live as we choose. A couple wants their wedding blessed by God but do little if any thing to include God in their marriage. We want the blessing,

“Oh that you,
God would bless me”

but we want God’s blessing without the obedience. We don’t want to throw ourselves entirely into the river of God’s will and power and purpose. We want to stick our foot into the river or wade in only as far as we have to in order to get God’s blessings.

When Jabez prayed,

“Oh that you would bless me.

He was praying for nothing more or less than what God wanted for him. Are you willing to ask for God’s blessing is a similar way? Or will you remain content and frustrated and disappointed with the way you ask for God’s blessing. Only by praying as Jabez prayed will you be blessed.

If you and I want God’s blessings then we must have the attitude of Jabez and the attitude of John the Baptist whose attitude was that,

“Christ must be greater,
I must become less.”

Amen