Nomenclator.

This past Sunday, our English- and Spanish-speaking congregations held combined services at 7:45 and 11:15, which is our custom on the fifth Sunday of 5-Sunday months.

Pastor Martha continued her series on prayer. She reminded us that prayer is serious, it is mysterious, and it is ministry. Yesterday's sermon focused on Jabez, a man mentioned in the genealogy found in First Chronicles.

Who is this man?

Jabez stands alone. Although Chronicles is generally very clear in listing lineage, we see that Jabez's parents are not named. We don't have the names of Jabez's descendants, though Scripture tells us he was “more honorable than his brothers”. All we know is that he was from the tribe of Judah, and he had an unusual name.

Pastor Martha shared with us that, in general, childbirth is a painful experience. So if pain is the norm, why would Jabez's mother name him as she did? “His mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain.'” (First Chronicles 4:9) Why was that pain more salient than the usual birth pains? What was the painful experience, or the painful season, that caused this unnamed woman to name her son “Pain”?

Scripture does not tell us the specific circumstances behind this woman's decision to name her son Jabez. But it does show us that Jabez longed to break free from the stigma inherent in his name. “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel” (First Chronicles 4:10). His name, “Pain”, went beyond the description of his mother's experience: it caused him personal pain as well.

Perhaps we each have our own crisis experience of pain that can only be resolved when we cry out to God. When we cry out to God, we acknowledge that we are incapable of bringing resolution to our crisis. We need Divine help. We need Jesus to intervene. Thank God that He hears and answers the prayers of the righteous (see James 5:16).

And again, perhaps we each have been given the name “Pain” by someone else: someone we have hurt deeply, or someone who associates us with a painful experience, or someone who is deriving a short-term benefit from describing us in negative terms. What is our option when we, sometimes in our infancy and our innocence, have been labeled as a manifestation of someone else's pain? Our only option is to appeal to our Maker and King.

It is interesting that Jabez, in his prayer, does not ask God to change his mother's opinion of him. Instead, he asks God to change his life: Lord, bless me! Lord, enlarge my territory! Lord, let Your hand be with me so that I will be free from pain! His prayer has no condemnation of anyone, no appeal for retribution. It is simply a plea to our great God, who heard his cry and released him from the effects of his mother's negative words.

Our great God can do the same for us! Let us meet Him in prayer, asking in faith, and patiently anticipating His intervention.