The list is long. Chronicles tell us who brought whom forth. They even tell whom their strange associations birthed. Then they get to him. He was born in sorrow; his mama must have had it so rough when she mentioned the name, people did not object. After all, they objected when Elizabeth said her son's name would be John. ‘He shall be called Jabez,’ she said. Pray where was daddy, did he also have a rough pregnancy and birth?
He was not lacking; it was recorded that he was more honourable than his brothers yet the prophecies he heard daily was 'child of sorrow.' How does one who already had a city named after him go through life calling forth sorrow?
... But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
(Genesis 27:40)
Had it not been said that heaven will permit whatever we allowed on earth? God said of the children of Israel:
So, tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say
(Numbers 14:28)
A time came in Jabez's life when he had had enough. He took his case to God.
And the clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the Rekabites. (1 Chronicles 2:55)
Jabez was more honourable 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.
(1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
Jabez knew who would change the course: Israel's God. He recognised that a blessing would resolve the matter. An increase in territory shut the enemy up. God’s power would keep from trouble; trouble brought about pain. This is very instructive, how come he knew not to blame his surroundings for his fate. Not once did we hear him tell God to deal with his enemies. What do we learn from this? You do not have to worry about your enemies if God is on your side. The man with THE BLESSING cannot be cursed:
I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
(Numbers 23:20)
This is not the first-time things like this would be put into their right perspective. Jacob placed his hand of blessing on Ephraim (fruitfulness) not Manasseh (deliverance)
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” (Genesis 41:51-52)
When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
(Genesis 48:17-20)
The salient lesson here is through our fruitfulness we receive deliverance. That is the way of God. If we must make it through life, we cannot sit around and wait for salvation to come. If the woman in the book of Kings was not hospitable to the prophet, she would never have had a child.
Back to Jabez, like him, we need to learn what the real issue is. It was a fruitfulness matter. It is the blessing issue; it was a territory concern. There is a way you would wield God’s power; demons would leave your territory alone. If like Jabez, you go through life with the wrong label, go to God. Get a change. Get your request granted. Jabez did.
