After a life marked by trauma and an unhealthy identity, Jabez has realized that the only way to overcome his shortcomings is for God to give him a new identity.
The Prayer of Jabez is one of the most popular prayers in the Bible. I imagine that, at some level, most all of us have heard of it, read it, or even heard our pastors give a sermon on it.
In 1 Chronicles 4, Jabez appears for the only time in the Bible. Smack dab in the middle of a whole lot of “begats,” where the author lists genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel, Jabez shows up, and in verse 10 unleashes his famous prayer:
“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.”
There’s a lot of great stuff included in this one verse that can easily apply to all of us as church technicians.
We’re too introverted to lead a team effectively.
A prayer for blessing? Of course! Who wouldn’t want God to bless their lives, families, abilities, and ministries?
A prayer for enlarged territory and increased influence? Duh! I think we all want more influence to a certain extent: invitations to more planning meetings, opportunities to give guidance and counsel on projects and purchases, and chances to build and develop our teams in a more healthy way.
A prayer for God’s hand to be with us? Absolutely! I think we all yearn for God’s presence to be with us in all that we do. After all, so many things in my role happen that are beyond my natural skills and abilities, there’s no way I could be successful relying only on my own competence. I need God with me every step of the way in order to do what I need to do!
A prayer that God will keep me from harm? No doubt! I need protection from any sort of attack that will come against me, my family, and my team. Without God fighting for me, I don’t stand a chance of being successful to pursue the call of ministry on my life!
We’re too rough around the edges to be allowed to present ideas to the church leadership team.
And that’s probably where we all tend to stop with this prayer. Four great points and all of them are dynamite prayers to pray. And the fact that Jabez was just a random guy in the Bible, yet “God granted his request,” gives us all confidence that God hears and responds to all of our prayers. Tons of confidence to be gleaned from that!
But I believe there’s actually one more nugget hidden in this prayer that’s tremendously easy to overlook, and I think it’s another critical prayer that all of us as technicians can embrace. It actually begins in the prior verse, 1 Chron. 4:9: “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’”
According to the footnotes in my Bible, the name Jabez sounds like the Hebrew word for “pain.” Now, the Bible doesn’t explain what sort of pain his mother was in when she gave birth to him. It could have been relational pain or trauma (or maybe even something that surrounded his conception and how that traumatized his mother). It could have been physical pain due to difficulties in the pregnancy or childbirth. It could have been financial, emotional, or relational, but the Bible doesn’t say.
We’re too task-focused and we struggle to embrace the rhythm of relaxation and Sabbath.
It does point out that the circumstance of her pain was so bad, that it marked Jabez’s life and his identity. Starting from the moment he was born, he would be literally known as “pain.” It became who he was. It was a constant reminder; a label of a shortcoming and a scarring memory.
That, then, adds a critical piece of context to the prayer he then prays in verse 10. Because after he asks God for the four distinct areas of blessing, he explains why he is so desperate for a move of God in his life.
“…So that I will be free from pain.”
After a life marked by trauma and an unhealthy identity, Jabez has realized that the only way to overcome his shortcomings is for God to give him a new identity. He had been born as “pain,” but he is now praying that God’s hand will be with him so he can be free from the thing that had defined him from birth.
This is the part that I want to embrace as a church technical leader.
Because how many of us sometimes find ourselves fighting what feels like a losing battle against our identity?
We’re too introverted to lead a team effectively. We’re too deferential and conflict-averse to undertake the necessary amount of confrontation with our volunteer teams. We’re too hotheaded to work with other departments and their last-minute requests. We’re too black-and-white to provide grace when others need it after a mistake.
We’re too literal and logistical to get invited to the brainstorming meetings. We’re too rough around the edges to be allowed to present ideas to the church leadership team. We’re too much of a perfectionist to train and develop others so our team can grow. We’re a workaholic and we can’t place healthy boundaries between our work life and our family life.
We’re too task-focused and we struggle to embrace the rhythm of relaxation and Sabbath. We are really good at that thing we’ve been doing for the last two decades and we’re convinced that there’s no way we can learn to embrace new technology. We’re too insecure to receive constructive criticism without being offended.
The list can go on and on.
I’m probably not the only one who identifies with things on that list.
And that’s the struggle. Sometimes it’s really easy to see in ourselves the weaknesses or the issues that we think define us. Maybe it’s really easy for others to see those same things and then use them to label or define us also.
I’ll never begin to see myself differently until I’m able to look thru the lens of how God sees me and defines me.
While I may have been marked by something that I did or something that happened to me (or even by a part of my personality that is seen as a weakness), that doesn’t have to become the thing that ultimately defines me, in my own eyes or the eyes of others.
As I pray for God’s hand to bless and guide me in my ministry, I can also pray that he redefines me as well. I don’t have to see myself as someone who is less than; I can see myself as someone who is capable of doing exceedingly, abundantly more. I don’t have to see myself as someone who can’t, but I can see myself as the head and not the tail.
I’m not a victim, I’m more than a conqueror. I’m not marked or defined by my pain or my shortcomings, but God can give me a new identity and a level of freedom that allows me to truly become who He has called me to be.
God can bless me, give me influence, fill me with His presence, and protect me. But just like with Jabez, He can also transform and renew me, and change how others see me and how I see myself.
He can give me a new identity that can only come from finding security and purpose in Him.
