“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”(2 Chronicles 7:14)

The third petition of the prayer of Jabez,

“Let Your hand be with me”

is the text for this morning’s sermon.  It is a petition that I would guess we have all prayed before.  Perhaps we prayed that God’s hand of protection would grant safe travel.  Or that God’s hand of mercy would bring healing to someone who is sick.  Or that God’s hand of power would bring strength and courage to someone who is struggling.  Or that God’s hand of compassion would bring comfort to someone who is mourning.

When I think of the hand of God I think of the many ways someone’s hand has been placed on me.  I think of your hands as I take them into my hand each morning, welcoming not just your hand but also your life into my life.  I think of the hand of a teacher pushing me and encouraging me to try harder.  I think of the hand of a parent patting me on the back telling me they are proud of me.   I think of the hand of my spouse holding my hand proclaiming her love for me without expressing a word. I think of the hand of my sons pulling me to join them in a new adventure or experience of life.  I think of the hands of the ministers who laid their hands upon me at the time of my ordination, affirming my call into the ministry. Hands of people, yet hands of God.

Which hand of God did Jabez want to be resting upon him?

Jabez’s two previous requests,

“Oh that You would bless me
and enlarge my territory.”

Give us some insight to his third request.

When Jabez prayed,

“Oh that You would bless me
and enlarge my territory.”

He wasn’t asking for increased fame and power.  He wasn’t seeking enlarged bank accounts or investment portfolios.  He wasn’t asking for some magical blessing that would ward off disease, disappointment and defeat. Jabez wanted to be blessed as God wanted to bless him.  He wanted God to bless him when he was experiencing joy or sorrow, victory or defeat, health or sickness.  He wanted to be blessed so that he could be a blessing.  He wanted to surrender more and more of his life to God’s control. If he were offering this prayer today as a Christian his pray would be,

“God make me Christ like.”

Unfortunately when we pray the prayer of Jabez we try to remain ourselves.  C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity points out that when most people pray they pray with two goals in mind; personal happiness AND being good.  We try to let our minds and hearts go their own way centered on money, pleasure, and ambition. While at the same time hoping to behave Godly, honestly, chastely and humbly.

Jesus warns us that we can’t do that.  A thistle cannot produce a fig.  If a field contains nothing but grass seed, it cannot produce wheat.  To produce wheat, the field must be ploughed up and re-sown.  Oh that you would take my heart God and plough it and re-sow it with Your Word and Spirit.

“Oh that You would bless me
and enlarge my territory."

So what did Jabez want when he prayed,

“Let your hand be with me?”

Bruce Wilkinson answers this question with a beautiful story that he tells in his book The Prayer of Jabez.

He and his wife had gone to the park with their children.  Their 5 year-old son David immediately ran to the small slide and began playing on it.   A short time later David left the small slide and went to the medium sized slide. He climbed halfway up the ladder and stopped. David turned and looked at his parents, looked up to the top of the slide and down at the ground and carefully backed down the ladder.

At this point Bruce’s wife urged him to go help David.   Bruce responded, “Not yet.”

David spent the next few minutes watching other kids climb up and slide down the medium slide.   Suddenly David climbed up the ladder and slid down the medium slide, three times in fact.

As he came down the slide a third time, he headed for the largest slide in the park.  David’s mother Darlene said to Bruce, “I don’t think he should do that by himself.  Do you?”

Bruce answered, “No, but I don’t think he will. Let’s see what he does.”

When David reached the bottom of the giant slide he peered up. He watched bigger boys go hurtling down the slide.  Then, against all odds, David decided to try.   Step-by-step, hand over hand, he inched up the ladder.  He hadn’t reached a third of the way when he froze.  Older kids behind him were yelling at him to get going up the ladder, but David couldn’t.  As a matter of fact he couldn’t move up or down.

At that point his father rushed over, “Are you OK son?”

David looked down at his father, shaken but clinging to the ladder. He said, “Dad will you come down the slide with me?”

“Why son?” his father asked.

“I can’t do it without you, Dad,” he said, “It’s too big for me!”

Bruce stretched as high as he could to reach David. He lifted him in his arms and then together they climbed the ladder and slid down the slide together.

That is what your Heavenly Father’s hand is like.

When was the last time you were like David, and called out to God, your Father?  When was the last time you were like the disciples stepping out in faith to do and say things that could only come from the hands of God your Father?

When was the last time you felt God’s power under you, in you, surging through you?

When was the last time you prayed,

“Lord, by your spirit,
pull off something great
for Your glory?”

When was the last time you prayed,

“Oh that Your hand
would be with me?”

Like any loving dad at the playground, God is watching and waiting for you to ask for the supernatural power He offers.  He eagerly seeks those who are sincerely loyal to Him.  By His touch you can experience supernatural enthusiasm, boldness, and power.  It’s up to you.  Your loyal heart and mine is the only part of His plan that God will not provide.  You and I have to do that.