25. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-1 CHRONICLES 4:10 (The Prayer of Jabez)

Little Ana sat quietly next to her grand mother deeply engrossed in a television program dealing with the activities of a group of disgraced televangelists who over the years had become very rich and had built up large followings, only to end up in disgrace because of their greed and personal transgressions. The names of Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard and Jimmy Swaggart were given as prominent examples of people who gained great fame and following, only to fall in shame. In all these cases the commentator suggested, the one common denominator was that they did not understand the real meaning of “The Prayer of Jabez”, and as a result paid the ultimate price.
When the program ended Ana turned to her grand mother and asked:
“Gramma what is the Prayer of Jabez and what did the announcer mean when he said they did not understand its meaning?”
The old lady paused for a while to collect her thoughts on this very important subject, and then turned to her grand daughter and said:
“My dear child, the story of Jabez is probably one of the most inspiring and most beautiful stories ever told of what it means to be a true Christian, a follower of God. It is a very short prayer which appeared in 1 Chronicles, Verse 4:10.
Let me read it to you and I will then explain it”:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying:
“Oh, that you should bless me indeed,
And enlarge my territory,
That your hand will be with me,
And you will keep me from evil,
That I may not cause pain”
….So God granted him what he requested.

“Jabez was a very simple man, an average “nobody” who felt that he wanted to dedicate himself, in whatever way he can, to serving his God. His prayer was simply a cry to God to help him to find the right way to serve and to make the best use of him, while helping him to avoid doing evil things. The pray is in four parts:
1. That God will bless him, so he may become worthy to continue God’s work successfully. This was a sign of profound humility so often seen in the holiest people.
2. That God will enlarge his territory. This does not mean, as many of the “Prosperity Preachers” justified their accumulation of material wealth as blessings from God, but rather it was a request for God to broaden his influence, so he could do more for more people. It was an appeal to strengthen him to continue God’s work.
3. That God’s hand will be with him. This is an acknowledgement that God will always be with you and will not abandon you when you are doing his work. He promised you will never be alone.
4. That God will keep him from evil. Knowing his human weakness to sin and to cause pain and suffering, this is a plea to God to protect him from his own failings.”

The old lady waited for a few seconds while Ana assimilated the information she had just heard and then continued:
“You see Ana, this prayer is designed for anyone to go to God and ask for his blessings. By choosing Jabez, a real loser whose name means “born from pain”, God clearly shows that it does not really matter who you are, or how smart you are, or how well connected you might be; -What truly matters is being sincere and knowing who you are, who you want to be, and asking for the opportunity to serve him.”
Ana, beginning to understand what her grand mother was describing and recalling the events in the television program, sat up, looked toward the old lady and said:
“Gramma, I think I can now understand why the Prayer of Jabez is so important for us all to understand. By using this simple prayer and strongly believing in God, anyone of us can change who we are and who we would like to be.”
The old lady, overwhelmed by the insight shown by her young grand child, added:

“Yes indeed my dear child, the real message of the prayer of Jabez is not in the words of the prayer, but in the confidence that God will always listen to our prayer.”