Readings for today: 1 Chronicles 3-5
Several years ago, a Christian leader ran across this prayer from Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4. “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked.” (1 Chronicles 4:10) He wrote a book about it. Claimed that if Christians would pray this prayer for thirty days, they would see significant changes in their lives. It became a bestseller. The forces of Christian capitalism took advantage. The book spawned journals and devotionals and Bible studies and music and sermon series. Preachers encouraged their congregations to pray for an “expansion of their territory.” Pray for “God’s hand” to bless everything they set their mind and heart to. Pray for God to “protect them and deliver them from all pain.” Sadly, these things didn’t happen like the preachers promised. People still suffered pain. People still suffered loss. People saw their “territories” decrease through global recessions. And the prayer fad quickly faded from the scene.
Prosperity preaching is heretical. The idea that God promises His people only the good things in this life goes against everything we read in Scripture and everything we experience in real life. Prosperity preachers love to lift up certain sections of Scripture, rip them out of context, and use them almost like magic incantations to force God to do their bidding. They believe their obedience binds God to act in certain ways. They believe their faith requires God to bless them with earthly treasures. It’s all a big scam. It’s bogus theology. Spiritually abusive. Shamelessly self-promoting and self-enriching. (All one has to do is look at the lifestyles of these so-called “preachers” to see the rotten fruit of their manipulative, sinful, and evil tactics.)
So why does Jabez pray this prayer? We have no idea. We do not know much about him. We do not know anything about his life circumstances. We do not know the occasion that spawned this prayer. To build an entire theology of prayer off the back of this one verse is incredibly dangerous. I remember when the book first came out. I was at Princeton at the time. Serving as an intern in a local church where one of the pastors encouraged our congregation to pray the prayer. I had concerns almost immediately. When members of our church asked me what I thought about the prayer of Jabez, I told them I preferred the prayer of Jesus. Praying the Lord’s Prayer for thirty days would bear far more fruit in one’s spiritual life than praying the prayer of Jabez.
Ultimately, the problem with the prayer of Jabez is it makes everything about us. Bless me. Expand my territory. Be with me. Keep me from harm. Protect me from all pain. And yet, as I read Scripture I see how God often uses pain and hardship and suffering to shape and form us into the image of Christ. In fact, the Book of Hebrews says that Christ Himself was made “perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10) The prayer Jesus taught us to pray makes everything about God. Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Our very real needs grounded by our surrender to God’s ultimate will for our lives.
Friends, you and I are living through challenging times. Many of us are experiencing pain. Many of us are experiencing hardship. Many of us are experiencing loss. Our health is threatened. Our wealth is being stripped away. Our territory has shrunk to the homes we are lucky enough to live in. Does this mean God has failed? Does this mean God’s people have lost faith? Is God finally fed up with the world? No. It simply another stark reminder that this world is not our home. This world is broken and ruined and dangerous and hostile. It is cursed by the weight of sin. It suffers and struggles and groans along with us as it waits for the coming Kingdom of God. In such a world, the prayer of Jabez cannot help us. Only the prayer of Jesus can bring us the comfort and the hope we need!
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 6, Psalms 36, 39, 77, 78