Quiet Time Reflections: Jabez's Prayer

1Ch 4:9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.

10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

Jabez prayed for God to bless him in the following ways:

1. that God would enlarge his coasts~applied to my life, I can pray that God would enlarge my sphere of influence, that He would use me to bring others to faith in Him
2. That God's hand would be with him~that God's hand of guidance would be with me, that He would guide me in the way that I should go. This can't be done outside of daily time spent in His Word.
3. that God would keep him from evil that it might not grieve him~this can be applied in several ways. I can pray that God would keep me from committing evil. I can pray that God would protect me from evil that would come at me from outside myself, either through the eyes, ears or physical harm.

This is a great prayer. I find it significant that these two verse come right in the middle of a long and boring genealogy. It is like a breath of fresh air, an oasis in a desert of names that I can't even pronounce much less know anything about for the most part. For God to put that there it must be important for me to know. This is something I can take along and meditate on.