What's in a Name?
This Sunday's sermon was written and delivered by Elder Siem Vandenbroek.
Johnny Cash sang with a deep, resonating voice. One of his songs was “A boy named Sue”. The man in black, as he was called, would take his guitar and give a grand solo performance that had quite a following. The song, “A boy named Sue”, deals with our topic: What is in the name?
Well, the problem is that Sue is a nice name for your daughter, but not a proper name for your son. This father wanted to be on purpose nasty to his son and named him Sue, knowing full well that this would make him somewhat of a laughing stock for his classmates and boys on the street.
The song goes way back to the 60’s and 70’s, to the more restricted ideas of that time, at which we would look now somewhat differently today. At that time this boy had to live with the name Sue and indeed, as the song spells out, he was made the joke of the neighbourhood. But then he learned to live with the disadvantage and started to fight back with fist and tongue. He earned this way the respect of his classmates. In short, what used to be his weakness became his strength.
So much for Johnny Cash and his song. Let us now return to our text, which is about a case 3000 years earlier. Not much has changed over the years. We deal with a boy named Jabez, who lived in Israel; so to speak he was a predecessor of our present day Sue.
Let us read again 1 Chronicles 4: 9, 10.
Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother called him Jabez, saying: “I gave birth to him in pain”. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel: “Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.
Please pay special attention to the last line “and God granted his request”. If this had not been true, if God had not granted him his request, the passage would not have deserved a place in our Bible. Now this answer: “God granted his request” shows that Jabez was within the will of God by asking for the things that are laid down in this prayer. When praying I, and all of us, always have to ask: “Are we within the will of God?”
So Jabez had a problem. He had caused great pain, as it says in the text, to his mother in particular. Whether it went beyond childbirth we do not know. In Jewish culture names were thought to be reflections of a person’s character. For example, Jacob means sup-planter, what is a person with a tricky, somewhat unreliable nature, which he demonstrated at times. Can you imagine having to introduce yourself? Oh, who are you? Well, my name is Pain. How Jabez dealt with it is not spelled out in the text, but the conclusion is that dealing with others must have been a serious problem for him. It was something that he was always uncertain about. What kind of reception he was going to receive? Would it be mockery or pity, how could they have done that to him? Would people just casually accept it? You never know how they are going to react.
What we do know is that his efforts to deal with his stigma paid off. The chronicler, the writer of this book, mentions that he was more honourable than his brothers. He knew he had this problem and he managed it apparently well. Honourable means he was considered with respect.
Let us go on and see what Scripture says was his basic strength. Well the text shows that Jabesh was a spiritual man. That is, he was a believer; for the Christian it means that he believed that there is a God who is interested and who cares what happens to us here on earth. Not only to us as a community, that of course too, but besides that also to each one of us personally.
As a spiritual person we want to develop a relationship with our Maker and Creator. Jabez realized that with his particular, personal problem he could not count too much on human sympathy; that would only go so far. So, what did he do? The text says: “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel”. He cried out, well, in his deep trouble he could hardly stand it anymore. This was too much for him to endure. On a daily basis he had to confront his teasers, who may not have realized what they were doing to him. His neighbours may have just teased him without thinking too much of it. You know things we say and we do without giving it a second thought, but which are received on the other end seriously and may, maybe unintentionally, really hurt others.
To whom did he pray? To the God of Israel - the God who had delivered his people from the bondage in Egypt; the God who had fed them in the dessert with the Manna and the Quails, who had proven to be so real to his people. Stories about that must have been circulating among the elders. But mind you, don’t be mistaken, that had not happened yesterday or last year; no that was for him about 500 years earlier. However, God had been with the people on an ongoing basis, delivering them from their oppressors and blessing them with spiritual and material prosperity when they lived, so to speak, the Christian life.
The challenge for us today is: Do we still feel the same way? Do we still have the passion to cry out to God with our problems? Or are we maybe somewhat of a double thought, because in general we are quite satisfied with the way things are? It is easy to fall in a certain complacency, thinking things are rather good for me, don’t rock the boat too much.
What does Jabez pray? He prays: “Oh that you would bless me indeed”. No mention here about: my name is Pain and they are teasing me to the point that I can not stand it any more. This would have been maybe our first reaction. First cover our immediate concerns. But not so for Jabez. He prays: “Oh that You may bless me”. The old King James adds to that “indeed”, “that You may bless me indeed”: expressing the intensity of the prayer. “Lord I am really asking urgently for blessings”. “Please come across and provide for me!”
Now some may say this is rather selfish, praying for personal favours. The answer to this “selfishness” is that God knows our heart’s intent. He knows why we are asking where we pray for: are we self-centred or God-centred? Are we willing to walk in His way or is it still our own way first and then we’ll see later? Are we sincere in saying: “Not my will, but Your will be done”?
Someone else may reason that it really does not matter much whether we pray or not. We may say that God has His own preferences anyway. Not so, however! God is our Father, and He cares for us. He invites us to let Him know how we feel and what we need.
Of course we also have to bring the needs of our community and of this world before God and ask for the Lord’s Kingdom to be established. We may pray for the sick and the shut-ins and others who are disadvantaged. Pray for the political leaders and for peaceful solutions to crises. All that is very legitimate and shows our concerns for these more general matters.
But then remains the question: What about us? Are we considering ourselves too insignificant for God? Well, listen to what Scripture has to say: You ask not, so you receive not! Who is the one who said: Ask and it will be given to you? Seek and you will find? This was our Lord Himself. God is willing to bless us, so ask for it. Pray with sincerity and with passion and stay within His will.
Now Jabez first asked for God’s attention and blessing in general and then proceeded with the request that his territory may be expanded. Are we asking here for more real estate? That does not sound very spiritual! There may be special occasions where that would be justified. Here we ask for social involvement, Lord how can I serve more? This deserves our continuous attention. Look around you: Are there sick or shut-in people? When you are kind to them and help them out, consider yourself the hand and feet bringing the Gospel, the Good News, to others. In this area we may, however, encounter a problem. We are very church focused in our outreach, but many outsiders may not see it that way; that is probably the reason why they remain outsiders. How do we then reach out to them? Pierre Berton at one time wrote his challenging book, “The Comfortable Pew”. Well, let it not be so for us. Difficult, where do we balance our involvement? This situation requires dialogue among us.
Pray about expansion of your territory and then be on the look out for opportunities coming your way. The Lord will grant your request in due time for sure. A group of our church found a ministry in the Long Term Care Facility in Port Credit; each month we go there to sing. It is quite a rewarding experience. We share our faith with the residents and show that we care for them on an ongoing basis.
When we ask for blessings we put ourselves at the mercies of God, our heavenly Father, because blessings are a gift from Him. We cannot work for them, as if we could earn them. They are unearned free gifts that are independent of our efforts. But God has made it clear that He is quite willing to bless us when we ask Him. He loves to bless, don’t be cynical about that. God’s blessings, in the final analysis, are making our lives worthwhile.
His blessings will come at the most opportune times as He sees fit. We are encouraged to pray daily for bread. Therefore necessary material things are not to be excluded; but look well beyond that. How can we promote the Kingdom in things of our daily life? If you come to think about it, it is already quite an assignment to present the Kingdom in the big things, such as world poverty and hunger, but we should also try to bring them in the small, common things of our daily life, for example, the way we deal with others around us.
Personally, I like the third request the most: “that Your hand may be with me”.
Now what do we mean with the hand of God? Well, our first thought may be that it will empower us. That from now on we will have the courage and be capable to do what we otherwise could not do. Not so, however, in the first place it makes us realize God’s presence and involvement in all we do in His Name. And when things will happen we will say “Look at what God did”, not instead “see what we accomplished”. Remember we are dealing with the Divine, the supernatural. If you like that better, call such events “miracles”. Sometimes this means that a law of nature is suspended. The lame can walk again. How come her bones could not support her and now she walks? A true miracle! Sometimes, however, the timing of the event is the miracle. It just happened when needed. Think of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee when there was a vicious storm raging. The sea, of course, would eventually have calmed down anyway, but Jesus made it happen right there and then. The disciples were no longer in danger.
We will experience God’s hand, especially when we leave our comfort zone. God has an assignment for each one; call it He has a “Dream” for us.
Pray: May I be aware of Your closeness, Lord! His hand is resting on your shoulder. It is not a crushing weight that will bend us over. No, it is an encouraging gesture that gently will keep us steady and move us in the right direction. Ask on a daily basis that you may be led by Him on this journey of faith. It becomes this way an exciting adventure rather than an obligation to which we feel we have to pay attention a couple of times a week when it suits us most.
In conclusion, let us meditate on the Jabez prayer. He cried out and God granted his wish. Our church has its blessings but also has its problems and the same applies to our families. Aging is not always simple; also we may have loved ones who do not yet know the Lord; others may have financial or job problems. The Jabez prayer is given to us to show us the direction. Don’t use it as a formula prayer that we recite a couple of times; but let us bring our needs before God and don’t be afraid to be personal about it. Trust Him to deal with it according to His will and according to His timing. He invites us to try Him; for a starter it will give us peace of mind; action will come later for sure.
Jabez then prayed this simple prayer: “Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”
And God granted his request!
May the Lord bless us all. Amen!
Johnny Cash sang with a deep, resonating voice. One of his songs was “A boy named Sue”. The man in black, as he was called, would take his guitar and give a grand solo performance that had quite a following. The song, “A boy named Sue”, deals with our topic: What is in the name?
Well, the problem is that Sue is a nice name for your daughter, but not a proper name for your son. This father wanted to be on purpose nasty to his son and named him Sue, knowing full well that this would make him somewhat of a laughing stock for his classmates and boys on the street.
The song goes way back to the 60’s and 70’s, to the more restricted ideas of that time, at which we would look now somewhat differently today. At that time this boy had to live with the name Sue and indeed, as the song spells out, he was made the joke of the neighbourhood. But then he learned to live with the disadvantage and started to fight back with fist and tongue. He earned this way the respect of his classmates. In short, what used to be his weakness became his strength.
So much for Johnny Cash and his song. Let us now return to our text, which is about a case 3000 years earlier. Not much has changed over the years. We deal with a boy named Jabez, who lived in Israel; so to speak he was a predecessor of our present day Sue.
Let us read again 1 Chronicles 4: 9, 10.
Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother called him Jabez, saying: “I gave birth to him in pain”. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel: “Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.
Please pay special attention to the last line “and God granted his request”. If this had not been true, if God had not granted him his request, the passage would not have deserved a place in our Bible. Now this answer: “God granted his request” shows that Jabez was within the will of God by asking for the things that are laid down in this prayer. When praying I, and all of us, always have to ask: “Are we within the will of God?”
So Jabez had a problem. He had caused great pain, as it says in the text, to his mother in particular. Whether it went beyond childbirth we do not know. In Jewish culture names were thought to be reflections of a person’s character. For example, Jacob means sup-planter, what is a person with a tricky, somewhat unreliable nature, which he demonstrated at times. Can you imagine having to introduce yourself? Oh, who are you? Well, my name is Pain. How Jabez dealt with it is not spelled out in the text, but the conclusion is that dealing with others must have been a serious problem for him. It was something that he was always uncertain about. What kind of reception he was going to receive? Would it be mockery or pity, how could they have done that to him? Would people just casually accept it? You never know how they are going to react.
What we do know is that his efforts to deal with his stigma paid off. The chronicler, the writer of this book, mentions that he was more honourable than his brothers. He knew he had this problem and he managed it apparently well. Honourable means he was considered with respect.
Let us go on and see what Scripture says was his basic strength. Well the text shows that Jabesh was a spiritual man. That is, he was a believer; for the Christian it means that he believed that there is a God who is interested and who cares what happens to us here on earth. Not only to us as a community, that of course too, but besides that also to each one of us personally.
As a spiritual person we want to develop a relationship with our Maker and Creator. Jabez realized that with his particular, personal problem he could not count too much on human sympathy; that would only go so far. So, what did he do? The text says: “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel”. He cried out, well, in his deep trouble he could hardly stand it anymore. This was too much for him to endure. On a daily basis he had to confront his teasers, who may not have realized what they were doing to him. His neighbours may have just teased him without thinking too much of it. You know things we say and we do without giving it a second thought, but which are received on the other end seriously and may, maybe unintentionally, really hurt others.
To whom did he pray? To the God of Israel - the God who had delivered his people from the bondage in Egypt; the God who had fed them in the dessert with the Manna and the Quails, who had proven to be so real to his people. Stories about that must have been circulating among the elders. But mind you, don’t be mistaken, that had not happened yesterday or last year; no that was for him about 500 years earlier. However, God had been with the people on an ongoing basis, delivering them from their oppressors and blessing them with spiritual and material prosperity when they lived, so to speak, the Christian life.
The challenge for us today is: Do we still feel the same way? Do we still have the passion to cry out to God with our problems? Or are we maybe somewhat of a double thought, because in general we are quite satisfied with the way things are? It is easy to fall in a certain complacency, thinking things are rather good for me, don’t rock the boat too much.
What does Jabez pray? He prays: “Oh that you would bless me indeed”. No mention here about: my name is Pain and they are teasing me to the point that I can not stand it any more. This would have been maybe our first reaction. First cover our immediate concerns. But not so for Jabez. He prays: “Oh that You may bless me”. The old King James adds to that “indeed”, “that You may bless me indeed”: expressing the intensity of the prayer. “Lord I am really asking urgently for blessings”. “Please come across and provide for me!”
Now some may say this is rather selfish, praying for personal favours. The answer to this “selfishness” is that God knows our heart’s intent. He knows why we are asking where we pray for: are we self-centred or God-centred? Are we willing to walk in His way or is it still our own way first and then we’ll see later? Are we sincere in saying: “Not my will, but Your will be done”?
Someone else may reason that it really does not matter much whether we pray or not. We may say that God has His own preferences anyway. Not so, however! God is our Father, and He cares for us. He invites us to let Him know how we feel and what we need.
Of course we also have to bring the needs of our community and of this world before God and ask for the Lord’s Kingdom to be established. We may pray for the sick and the shut-ins and others who are disadvantaged. Pray for the political leaders and for peaceful solutions to crises. All that is very legitimate and shows our concerns for these more general matters.
But then remains the question: What about us? Are we considering ourselves too insignificant for God? Well, listen to what Scripture has to say: You ask not, so you receive not! Who is the one who said: Ask and it will be given to you? Seek and you will find? This was our Lord Himself. God is willing to bless us, so ask for it. Pray with sincerity and with passion and stay within His will.
Now Jabez first asked for God’s attention and blessing in general and then proceeded with the request that his territory may be expanded. Are we asking here for more real estate? That does not sound very spiritual! There may be special occasions where that would be justified. Here we ask for social involvement, Lord how can I serve more? This deserves our continuous attention. Look around you: Are there sick or shut-in people? When you are kind to them and help them out, consider yourself the hand and feet bringing the Gospel, the Good News, to others. In this area we may, however, encounter a problem. We are very church focused in our outreach, but many outsiders may not see it that way; that is probably the reason why they remain outsiders. How do we then reach out to them? Pierre Berton at one time wrote his challenging book, “The Comfortable Pew”. Well, let it not be so for us. Difficult, where do we balance our involvement? This situation requires dialogue among us.
Pray about expansion of your territory and then be on the look out for opportunities coming your way. The Lord will grant your request in due time for sure. A group of our church found a ministry in the Long Term Care Facility in Port Credit; each month we go there to sing. It is quite a rewarding experience. We share our faith with the residents and show that we care for them on an ongoing basis.
When we ask for blessings we put ourselves at the mercies of God, our heavenly Father, because blessings are a gift from Him. We cannot work for them, as if we could earn them. They are unearned free gifts that are independent of our efforts. But God has made it clear that He is quite willing to bless us when we ask Him. He loves to bless, don’t be cynical about that. God’s blessings, in the final analysis, are making our lives worthwhile.
His blessings will come at the most opportune times as He sees fit. We are encouraged to pray daily for bread. Therefore necessary material things are not to be excluded; but look well beyond that. How can we promote the Kingdom in things of our daily life? If you come to think about it, it is already quite an assignment to present the Kingdom in the big things, such as world poverty and hunger, but we should also try to bring them in the small, common things of our daily life, for example, the way we deal with others around us.
Personally, I like the third request the most: “that Your hand may be with me”.
Now what do we mean with the hand of God? Well, our first thought may be that it will empower us. That from now on we will have the courage and be capable to do what we otherwise could not do. Not so, however, in the first place it makes us realize God’s presence and involvement in all we do in His Name. And when things will happen we will say “Look at what God did”, not instead “see what we accomplished”. Remember we are dealing with the Divine, the supernatural. If you like that better, call such events “miracles”. Sometimes this means that a law of nature is suspended. The lame can walk again. How come her bones could not support her and now she walks? A true miracle! Sometimes, however, the timing of the event is the miracle. It just happened when needed. Think of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee when there was a vicious storm raging. The sea, of course, would eventually have calmed down anyway, but Jesus made it happen right there and then. The disciples were no longer in danger.
We will experience God’s hand, especially when we leave our comfort zone. God has an assignment for each one; call it He has a “Dream” for us.
Pray: May I be aware of Your closeness, Lord! His hand is resting on your shoulder. It is not a crushing weight that will bend us over. No, it is an encouraging gesture that gently will keep us steady and move us in the right direction. Ask on a daily basis that you may be led by Him on this journey of faith. It becomes this way an exciting adventure rather than an obligation to which we feel we have to pay attention a couple of times a week when it suits us most.
In conclusion, let us meditate on the Jabez prayer. He cried out and God granted his wish. Our church has its blessings but also has its problems and the same applies to our families. Aging is not always simple; also we may have loved ones who do not yet know the Lord; others may have financial or job problems. The Jabez prayer is given to us to show us the direction. Don’t use it as a formula prayer that we recite a couple of times; but let us bring our needs before God and don’t be afraid to be personal about it. Trust Him to deal with it according to His will and according to His timing. He invites us to try Him; for a starter it will give us peace of mind; action will come later for sure.
Jabez then prayed this simple prayer: “Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”
And God granted his request!
May the Lord bless us all. Amen!
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