Tag: 1 Chronicles

God, Put Your Hand on Me

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10

Jabez was more honorable 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.

Scripture Commentary: Humble yourself under God’s almighty hand

The Hebrew word Jabez means ‘pain.’  During Jabez’s time, a person’s name had meaning.  Perhaps the mother’s pain was emotional.  Maybe his father died, or perhaps the family had fallen into financial straits.  Only God knows for sure what caused the pain of this anguished mother.  Jabez cried for God’s hand to be upon him and free him from pain.

Jabez cried out to God, “Oh, that you would bless me …”

To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.

We, too, are crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness of God.

Proverbs 10:22 reads, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”

Jabez also entreated God to “enlarge my territory!”

Your business is the territory God has entrusted to you.  He wants you to accept it as a significant opportunity to touch individual lives.  Asking Him to enlarge that territory brings Him great delight.

Oh God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for Your Glory.  Let me do more for you!

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Chronicles Chapter 4

Additional Reading:
Proverbs Chapter 10