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Prayers
Loving Father, I offer you everything I do this day -- my
thoughts, works, joys and sufferings. I desire to join my heart this day to the heart of your Son, who gave Himself up totally
to Your service and to the service of others. Give me your Grace everlasting so that I can live like Him continuously.
Amen
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THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
I Chronicles 4:10 (KJV)
"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."
The most remarkable person in this chapter is Jabez. We are not told upon what account Jabez was more honourable
than his brethren; but we find that he was a praying man. The way to be truly great, is to seek to do God's will, and to pray
earnestly. Here is the prayer he made.
Jabez prayed to the living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer; and, in prayer he regarded him
as a God in covenant with his people. He does not express his promise, but leaves it to be understood; he was afraid to promise
in his own strength, and resolved to devote himself entirely to God. Lord, if thou wilt bless me and keep me, do what thou
wilt with me; I will be at thy command and disposal for ever. As the text reads it, this was the language of a most ardent
and affectionate desire, Oh that thou wouldest bless me! Four things Jabez prayed for.
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1. That God would bless him indeed. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings: God's blessings are
real things, and produce real effects. 2. That He would enlarge his coast. That God would
enlarge our hearts, and so enlarge our portion in himself, and in the heavenly Canaan, ought to be our desire and prayer.
3. That God's hand might be with him. God's hand with us, to lead us, protect us, strengthen
us, and to work all our works in us and for us, is a hand all-sufficient for us. 4. That
he would keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they might not
hurt, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow. God granted that which he requested. God is ever ready to hear prayer:
his ear is not now heavy.
About this commentary:
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
on the Bible is available in the Public Domain.
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getCommentaryText&cid=30&source=2&seq=i.13.4.1
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