Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: What if your birth name defined your entire existence? What if every time someone called you, they reminded you of the worst moment of your life? Well, buried in the genealogies of First Chronicles is a man whose mother named him Pain. It seems outrageous. The story of Jabez should have ended in obscurity, lost among thousands of forgotten names.

Instead, God paused the narrative to spotlight this unlikely hero. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll illustrates how one desperate prayer from Jabez transformed his life and why the answer to that prayer matters for your future today.

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: We're engaged in a series of messages on great stories in the Old Testament. My motivation for bringing this series came from an observation I've made over the last number of years as I have been with people of all different ages and in all different places. And that is that I am discovering that parents these days seem to be not as faithful in telling the stories from the Bible as they once were.

I don't know, maybe it's the presence of television, perhaps it's the speed of our lives and the number of involvements we have with our schools and with our neighborhoods and our communities. But for whatever reason, I'm discovering that many of the young adults that I'm with often are not familiar with the great stories that come from the scriptures.

In case you wonder if that's true, stop and think, parents, of the last time you sat down with one or more of your children and told them, deliberately told them, a story from the Bible. Just as we are becoming less and less acquainted with the great hymns from our hymnals, so we are becoming less acquainted with the great stories from the Bible.

Now, the stories don't have to be long to be significant or great. Neither do they have to be that complicated, but there is something about the genius of a story that can sort of drive a truth home and make it stick. And I've discovered that children, even to this day, still love stories. And some of the best I know are found in the pages of the Bible.

Such as the story of the unknown who became well-known. And probably, if I were to ask around and have different ones of you who have grown up in the church name some of the great stories from the Bible, you probably would not name this story. This is not one of the better-known stories, but I never fail to find it fascinating when I turn to it in the scriptures.

My Bible is open in the Old Testament to the book of First Chronicles, chapter four. Probably been a long time since you've been in the book of Chronicles. In fact, if you were Hebrew speakers and Hebrew readers, and if you carried a Hebrew Bible, to your surprise, as a Gentile tonight, you would be surprised to know that you'd be turning to the last book of the Bible.

That is the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, the books of Chronicles form the last books of the Old Testament. Not as in our case in the English Bible, the prophecy of Malachi, but the book of Second Chronicles. Now, we're in First Chronicles, but both of these books form the last one in the Old Testament in the Hebrew Bible.

So things have apparently come to the end, or they are nearing the end, and indeed they have. And that's sort of the historical backdrop to this story. And if you don't know that, if you haven't been told that, you can't appreciate as much the story we're going to be looking at.

Just a word about the times in which they lived. Kings were weak at this time in Hebrew history. Times were hard. The talk of war was always in the air, and there was a sleeping giant called Babylon, or the Chaldeans, that was soon to arise and come out of his slumber and invade the land and take captives all of those who were Hebrews.

It is a period just before what is commonly called the Babylonian captivity. Now, just imagine living in a nation where the talk of war is constantly in the air, and you know that across the river or just beyond the border of your nation, there rests a vast and enormously cruel enemy who will soon invade.

He will take your land, he will take your home, he will take your crops, he will take your family, and that enemy will move you into foreign territory and you will live as a captive for seven decades. Jeremiah the prophet told the Hebrews that this would happen, and of course, they were in such indifference, they could care less.

They went right on living their lives as though he wasn't even telling the truth. But it's coming, it is right around the corner. Now, as far as this immediate context is concerned, First Chronicles chapter four, we have in these first nine chapters, forgive me, some of the most boring reading in all the scripture.

I love it, it is inspired, it is as much a part of God's Word as, if you carry such editions, as the red letter sections of the New Testament. This is God's Word. But this part of it is rather humdrum and dry. It is a series of names.

It starts with the name of Adam in chapter one and verse one, and the names continue on through the tribes of the Hebrews all through chapter nine, right up to that place. So what we have, if you'll allow me this imagery, is a cemetery. And what we really have in these verses is a series of epitaphs.

It is like taking a stroll in the darkest time of a nation's history through a cemetery and reading the epitaphs that are on all the stones in this graveyard. And you read one name after another, and the names mean little to you, maybe nothing at all to you.

You'll pick up one or two that'll be familiar in each chapter, but you'll not be able to identify most of the names, and you'll even have a hard time pronouncing many of them. And then suddenly, without announcement, you stop. And you look at this tombstone, this epitaph in chapter four, where for some reason there is a sudden oasis in this wilderness of names.

And the Spirit of God grabs your attention and hovers over one life, not for half a line, not for just one line, but for two complete verses. Now, that's not much in light of what is said about other great men and women of the Bible, but it's so contrasting to the other names that appear in this part of scripture, you can't help but wonder what the Lord is wanting to say to us.

J. Oswald Sanders, in a fine little book called A Spiritual Clinic, writes this: "When God troubles to preserve the epitaph of one man out of millions, and gives it in such concise and meaningful language, we can be certain that it will repay detailed study." And that's what we come to when we land on verses nine and ten of First Chronicles chapter four.

This is our opinion, that for some reason, the Spirit of God selected this man for the purpose of grabbing the attention of the reader long enough to learn a lesson or two from his life. He reminds me of a meteor in the night sky. They're rare. When they appear, you stare and you study the flash of light across the dark sky, and then you think about it sometimes for hours afterward.

This man is like a meteor in the scriptural sky that's very dark at this time of Hebrew history. Let me read the two verses. First Chronicles 4:9 and 10. "And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. And his mother named him Jabez saying, 'Because I bore him with pain.'"

"Now Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my border, that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from harm, that it may not pain me!' And God granted him what he requested." Period.

The man is never mentioned again in scripture. There is not one reference from here on to the man's life. Only here does it stand out as significant. Now, when I read these words of faith and hope, I find four things that as I'm reading the story, I think stand out as significant.

First of all is the name, because he returns to it again in the story. The name is Jabez. It is the Hebrew word Yavetz, and it's a transliteration of the Hebrew Yavetz, Jabez. It comes out in English saying Jabez. The Hebrew term means anguish, intense sorrow, pain.

Somehow, the man was given the name by his mother because it was linked to his birth, which is the second significant part of the story. In fact, she says, the verse says, his mother named him that because she bore him with Yavetz. There's a play on words. She named him what represented the surrounding atmosphere of his birth.

I'm intrigued by that. Having had four children born into our home, and remembering the circumstances in which each of the four was born, I can return to that scene and recall the events. None of the four would I have thought to name Jabez because there was not in each of those four births anguish and sorrow and extreme pain in life, but there was with Jabez.

Now our minds begin to wonder. We imagine. Let's think of several possibilities. Could it have been financial distress? The mother and, if he's living, the father, if she's married, the father, the mother and father could have been in extreme financial circumstances and this new mouth to feed represented anguish, additional anguish.

Maybe there were health problems. She may have been sickly. And to be caring for children, she has others because his brothers are mentioned in verse nine, she's already caring for other boys, and now she's pregnant and bringing to term yet another boy that she has to feed and care for. Maybe she hasn't the health to do so.

Perhaps she already has a full quiver of kids. Maybe she thought that her having children was over. I often meet people who tell me with a surprised look, they sort of whisper after they tell me of their children that are aged twenty-eight, eighteen, sixteen, and fifteen, that they're expecting another one.

And they sort of look over their shoulder like, "I hope no one is hearing this right now." But we smile at that because frequently those little surprises who come at such unexpected times become the sparkle of our lives and of our homes. And yet this boy brings no sparkle.

Maybe the dad has died. Maybe he died in one of the battles that were not uncommon at this time of Hebrew history. Maybe he left his wife, and she as a single mother was left to care for the children, and she was left pregnant, and she has to go it alone.

Perhaps it was a time of turmoil in the land or in the home. Maybe there was some calamity that had struck. And to bear a child in the midst of all of that was nothing but Yavetz. So she names him that. Some children are named Faith and some are named Hope, some are named Joy and some are named Charity. This kid's name is Pain.

Pain. "Can Pain come out and play today?" I thought about a little boy knocking on the door. "Time for supper, Pain." You may be able to identify with Jabez. I don't have to go any further to call to mind for you know, you can remember rather vividly the stories that your folks have told you regarding your origin.

Maybe you weren't even wanted. Perhaps you don't even know who your parent or both parents are. Maybe you've never once laid eyes on your father or your mother. Could be that something about your past has brought pain and anguish. And perhaps your folks were struggling and you were sort of the final straw that almost broke the back of an already horrendous situation.

Perhaps you've had one of those kind of children into a home that is full of turmoil and, I might as well say it, tragedy, you've gone through the birth of yet another child. Now, the reason I linger here is because that's why the Spirit of God hovers over this life.

This isn't just Hebrew history. This is life. These stories are stories about ourselves, and there are lessons to learn from them. By the way, don't miss the early part of verse nine. "He was more honorable than his brothers." The word honorable means heavy.

I don't believe it means he was fat. I think it means he was influential. For it's the word used for wealth or power or influence throughout the Old Testament. Kavod is the word, heavy. He had a heavy reputation. He had heavy influence in his community.

I take it that he was the most influential in the family before the final story was told. Whatever and however large the family, there was something about Jabez that changed him from the sorrow and anguish of his birth to the greatness of his influence. And what was it? Well, it was his prayer.

It was his prayer which God honored. Did I read too quickly the words of this prayer in verse ten? "Jabez called on the God of Israel." By the way, somewhere between his birth and this prayer, he has come to know the God of Israel. He has given his life, he has given his heart to Jehovah God.

He has heard of the Creator, he has turned to him in faith, and he has determined to walk with him. The turning point. And in doing so, he lifts his heart in prayer to God and asks four simple things. Did you observe the four?

First he asks, "Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed." Let's call this divine ennoblement. Divine ennoblement. "Bless me indeed." Make me unique. No common blessing for me. That word "indeed" is an underscoring of the word blessing.

"Lord, I pray that you will significantly bless me. The tragedy that has surrounded my birth and perhaps the handicaps that I have lived with through these years and the pervasive negative atmosphere that has been a part of my rearing, Lord, break through the cloud."

"Bless me indeed. Make a difference in my future. Cause it to be in contrast to my past. Divine ennoblement. I pray that you will indeed bless me." The next part of his prayer: "Oh, that thou wouldest enlarge my border."

Long enough have I lived under these limitations and restrictions. Long enough have I operated in this tight radius of pessimism. Long enough have I filled this little space and sort of survived as I have lived out my life. Lord, I pray that you will expand the tent pegs of my life.

Enlarge my life. Increase my influence. Intensify your use of my life. There isn't anything wrong with such ambition. There are times in all of our lives when the odds seem overwhelming and we would do anything we could to break out of the feelings of inadequacy.

And I think that really gives the lesson of Jabez's life. Disabilities need not disqualify. Now, for a moment, if I may jump to our day and into your life and to mine, could it be that your life has been spent in the restrictive demands and limitations of your original setting?

Could it be that some of those things that have held you captive and in bondage have determined your present life? Could it be that you have not yet thought of breaking free of that? Interesting, we often rear our children the way we were reared.

We often carry over into our homes the background of the way we lived in our original homes with our parents. Unless something changes, we will duplicate the same ills and failures. Jabez decided he wouldn't live as he had lived all of his life and so he had the courage to say, "O Lord, I pray that you will enlarge my border."

There are times that you feel overwhelmed, aren't there? Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon. I don't know if you like those cartoons as much as I do. Larson is the one that draws them. I think they're terrific. He's got animals doing what humans do, but it's from the perspective of animals.

This one is terrific. There's a great big dinosaur standing in front of a room full of grim-looking dinosaurs. He's addressing the crowd, and he says, "The picture is pretty bleak, gentlemen. The climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we have brains the size of a walnut."

There are a few Far Side lovers in the crowd, I can tell. "Lord, bless me indeed. Enlarge my brain. Break me free from the limitations and the restrictions that I have been told and been pounded into me or I have absorbed. Enlarge my borders." Divine enlargement.

And look next. He prayed, "Oh, that your hand might be with me." I love that. This is what I will call divine empowerment. "Lord, I'm counting on you to do these things in your time and in your way, but when you do, I don't want to go it alone. I want you to go with me."

"And I want to walk my life under the mighty hand of God, humbling myself and walking closely with you. I don't want to feel less and less the need of your hand on my life as I taste more and more of an expanded and what the world might call a successful life. I pray that your hand will be with me."

Over and over in the scriptures, those whom God uses the most mightily are those who walk under his authority and for his glory.

Bill Meyer: Maybe you find yourself considering the ways you hope God will expand your territory, allowing you to make an impact for his glory. There's much more to learn from the story of Jabez. You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll, our Bible teacher, titled today's message: Jabez: The Unknown Who Became Well Known.

It's the eleventh study in a larger biographical series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives. We're praying that today's story causes you to want to dig deeper on your own. And when you're ready to learn more, we invite you to check out the variety of helpful resources we have at insight.org.

Look for the fourteen-part series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives. Insight for Living has created the perfect toolkit for your journey. Start with the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook for this series, which is ideal for personal reflection or group discussion.

And then, add the complete audio sermon collection to hear Chuck's teaching again and again, either on CD or MP3. You can also access our convenient mobile app where listening is free. In closing, we'd like to share something that's been on our hearts here at Insight for Living.

You're invited to request, at no cost, our brand-new quarterly magazine. It's called Guided by Grace, a vibrant newsletter packed with features to inspire your faith journey. Each issue explores essential Christian virtues like joy, authenticity, leadership, and generosity.

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I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll describes a man who dared to ask God for something extraordinary. Thursday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Jabez: The Unknown Who Became Well Known, was copyrighted in 1990, 1992, 2001, 2006, 2012, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.