So as the Lord helps, I would
like to just speak for a few moments on this prayer of Jabez. We don't read much of Jabez,
but we just have this little account that his mother bare
him with sorrow. And then we have this prayer
that he prays. He is from the line of Judah. And so he prays. this prayer
to God, which is really four petitions he asked. And as we
begin this year and we meet for prayer, may we think of this
prayer of Jabez and what he prayed for. And may we pray for these
things too in our own lives and for the blessing of God upon
us. Well, Jabez starts with this
first petition. Well, it says, first of all,
Jabez called on the God of Israel. And that's vitally important. He wasn't speaking to a false
god. He was speaking to the true and
living God. That is the only one that we
can come in prayer to, who will be able to answer. So Jabez knew
where to go when he prayed. He called upon the God of Israel
and says, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. This indeed blessing. Well, if
you ask the world what it would be like to feel, to be blessed,
they would give you a description of what that would be. But you
see, in what we've read in the book of Psalms, the first psalm,
and also in the Beatitudes, we see that the definition as given
by God of what it is to be blessed is different than if you ask
the world what it is to be blessed. They would just say perhaps prosperity
and greatness and fame and pride and things like that. Jabez says,
O that thou wouldst bless me indeed. A real blessing, a real
blessing he seeks after. And you see, we read, blessed
are the poor in spirit. So Jabez wanted these blessings. And as we come at the beginning
of the year, may we seek earnestly the best gifts. And not what
the world think as being good or great, but what God thinks. And ultimately that will matter
in our lives. Oh, that thou wouldest bless
me indeed with a tender heart, with a contrite spirit. You see,
we read in Psalms, blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly. The world have their way of carrying
on, but we're to follow the Lord Jesus in that humility and cast
in our cares upon him. And it's a very different way.
So an indeed blessing is a blessing that is consistent with what
God calls blessed. And may we covet that then in
our lives, to be blessed with the knowledge of Christ, blessed
with humility, blessed with love, blessed with forgiveness, blessed
with a calm and contrite spirit. These are the true blessings,
oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed. And then he says in the
second petition, and enlarge my coast. Now you must understand
If you think of the way this was in Israel, they were given
the promised land, you see, and they were to go into the promised
land and they were to possess that land. And there was lots
of Canaanites there and the land was divided up by Joshua and
they were to go in and possess that land. And there were still
Canaanites there and they were to drive out those Canaanites
so that the land would be, the whole land of Canaan would be
taken up with spiritual worshippers. So what does that mean for us
today? Well, that the whole of our heart,
as it were, be given over to the things of God. Often in Holy
War, written by John Bunyan, he pictures in man's soul there
was unbelief was always lurking about and various characters
which symbolises those old nature sins. And you see, oh that thou
wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my coast, so that this area that
is governed by God, you see, sin shall not reign over you. We want to, as it were, conquer
those Canaanites in the land that would turn us aside so that
we may be given wholly to the Lord. And that's what Jabez is
praying here, that thou wouldst enlarge my coast. But also your
coast is your sphere of influence. You think of it when you're first
born, you have a fairly small influence. You're very precious,
but you have a small influence. But as you grow up and take on
more responsibilities, you have a greater sphere of influence. And you see, Jabez wanted his
sphere of influence for the glory of God to increase. That we may
be ambassadors for Christ, that in the things that we do, in
the responsibility that we have, that we may honor the Lord in
those things. that thou wouldst enlarge my
coast, the area that is given over to the things of God, and
the influence I have on others in my work, in my friendships,
that it might be that we may be able to be ambassadors for
Christ. Well, the third petition is,
and that thine hand might be with me. If we're going to drive
out the Canaanites, if we're going to stop them having dominion
over us, then surely we need the Lord to help us. We need
the Lord to go with us. We had that before us on Sunday.
The Lord, here it is, doth go before thee. We need the Lord
to go before us, but we need his hand with us, to strengthen
us, to fight against it. You see, the Christian life is
often pictured as a warfare. fighting against the powers of
Satan and the evil that is in our own hearts. Jabez prays,
and that thine hand might be with me. We want the Lord with
us. So important. Boaz, when he came into those
field of the reapers, he said, the Lord be with you and the
Lord bless you. We see it's so important that
the Lord is with us and that thine hand might be with me. Jabez didn't want to be alone.
He wanted the presence of God with him. And as we go into the
new year, may we truly covet earnestly this best gift. And then fourthly, the fourth
petition, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil. Jabez was concerned not to manifest
that evil in his life. You might think that it may not
grieve me. You might think, well, surely
it's grieving God, this evil. But you see, when we have a tender
heart, when we sin, then we, yes, we do grieve God. We grieve
the Spirit, but we also grieve ourselves. We're sad. You see, Paul was able to say
in Romans 7, O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? He was grieved himself with his
sin. And so Jabez was one who understood that he had a sinful
heart. He understood that he wanted
to have that blessing of God in his heart. And that thou wiltest
keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And it's with
the year ahead of us, God willing, if the Lord spares us, we may
not be left to fall into all those sins. Perhaps that we look
back in the last year and all the times when we've come short
of the glory of God. Lord, keep us from sinning like
that again, that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me, a tender heart, a heart that longs, hungers after
righteousness. And we read, and God granted
him that which he requested. He had this simple petition,
a deep petition, but straightforward in another sense, and the Lord
granted him his request. What a blessing when we come
in prayer and the Lord answers those prayers. So he was blessed
indeed. His coast was enlarged. The Lord's
hand was with him. And he was kept from evil. What a blessing that was. And
that request was granted. But just before I close, I want
to point one other thing out. The only reason why this request
was granted was because another request was not granted. Another request was not granted. I take you to Matthew 26 verse
39. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, If it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as
I will, but as thou wilt. You see, the Lord is only able
to answer our prayers because the Lord Jesus has stood in our
place. And there was no other way. If
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. It was impossible. There was no way. that the church
could be freed and Jesus not having to suffer. And therefore
as we think of this and we think of the wonderful thing of prayer
answered and how God does answer prayer, don't forget the cost. The one who was obedient, always
obeyed his father, always did his father's will. The one who
had no sin, he prayed earnestly, sweat as it were great drops
of blood. And yet his prayer was not answered. His request was not granted.
And he had to then come back, but he did say, nevertheless,
not as I will as thou wilt. And then later we read, the cup
that my father giveth me. shall I not drink it, that submission
of the Saviour. He took our load, he bore the
curse for us, so that when we come to God the tonight in prayer,
seeking for those blessings for us, it is for Jesus Christ's
sake. It's because of him Otherwise
there would be no throne of grace. There would be no mercy. There
would be no way back to God from the dark paths of sin. May the Lord add his blessing.