DRAW CLOSE TO GOD

A "Hearer of Prayer"

1 Chronicles 4:9,10

DOES Jehovah God really answer the sincere prayers of devoted worshipers?  The Bible account about a little-known, man named Jabez shows that Jehovah is indeed the "Hearer of prayer." (Psalm 65:2) This brief account is found in what might seem an unlikely place-in  the midst of the genealogical lists that open the book of First Chronicles. Let us examine 1 Chronicles 4:9, 10. 

All that we know about Jabez is found in these two verse.  According to verse 9, his mother "called his name Jabez, saying 'I have give him birth in pain.' "  Why did she choose such a name?  Did she bring forth this son with more than the usual birth pangs?  Was she perhaps  a widow, lamenting the fact that her husband was no there to welcome their baby into the world?  The Bible does not say. But this mother would someday have reason to be especially proud of this son. Jabez' siblings  may have been upright men, but "Jabez came to be more honorable than his brothers. 

Jabez was a man of prayer. He began his prayer by pleading for God's blessing.  He then made three requests that reflect a heart full of faith. 

First Jabez implored God saying:  "Enlarge my territory." (Verse 10) This honorable man was no land-grabber, coveting what belonged to his fellow man.  His earnest request may have had more  to do with people than land.  He may have been asking for the peaceful enlargement of his territory so that it could more worshippers of the true God."

Next time: DRAW  CLOSE TO GOD/Conclusion  of  A "Hearer of Prayer"

From the Watchtower magazine