One final reflection on the Prayer of Jabez.
The scant bio for Jabez, describes him as a good man, saying he “was more righteous than his brothers.” Righteous is a word that we don’t use too often nowadays but means to be morally upright. Jabez then was a good, morally upright person.
Now, consider that characteristic with the final phrase in this passage, “So God granted him what he requested.”
That begs the question of causality. Did God give Jabez what he asked for because Jabez was good or was Jabez good because God gave him what he asked for?
The answer, I suspect is “yes” — to both questions — which certainly gives us something to contemplate in respect to our prayers and relationship to God.
[Read more on The Prayer of Jabez and see 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, NKJV.]
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
