Read: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10; Mark 11:23
Oh . . . that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain! (1 Chron. 4:10)
When our children were young, they often begged for things at the store. As parents we would say, “We don’t have the money!” And they would respond, “Just get the money out of the bank machine.”
The prayer of Jabez has been interpreted as a kind of heavenly ATM, focusing narrowly on the words, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me” (1 Chron. 4:10). The prayer can be misused, centering only on our own selfish desires. The problem is not the bold claim in this prayer—Jesus himself taught his disciples to pray with boldness (Mark 11:23).
However, we often avoid the last part of Jabez’s prayer: “that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain” (1 Chron. 4:10). Jabez was named by his mother—a name chosen by her because of her pain in childbirth. Jabez did not want to go through life named Mr. Pain. Jabez is quite right to pray with boldness, but he fails to realize that suffering can be a sign of God’s work in and through us. Prayer is not a heavenly ATM machine that removes us from all pain. By revisiting Jabez’s prayer, we learn that suffering and pain can be an opportunity to experience the presence of Christ and glorification with Christ (Rom. 8:17).
As you pray, ask that Jesus would be present in your pain and suffering.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
