A MODEL PRAYER
Part 4


A. "AND JABEZ CALLED ON THE GOD OF ISRAEL, SAYING OH THAT THOU WOULDEST BLESS ME INDEED, AND ENLARGE MY COAST, AND THAT HAND MIGHT BE WITH ME, AND THAT THOU WOULDEST KEEP ME FROM EVIL, THAT IT MAY NOT GRIEVE ME" - I CHRON. 4:10
  1. You will notice:
    1. That in this petition he asks the Lord to keep him from evil
    2. That it will not grieve him
  2. This petition reminds us of the Lord's prayer:
    1. In which we are taught to say, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" - Matt. 6:13
    2. Jabez does not ask the Lord to keep him from evil, sorrow and trials, but rather, that evil will not grieve him, hurt him
B. THIS PETITION SHOWS
  1. That Jabez was fully aware:
    1. That man born of a woman cannot escape the troubles, the sorrows and trials to which all men are subjects - Job 14:1; Eccl. 2:14-15
    2. That trials, permitted by the Lord, are not intended to hurt us, but rather benefit us - compare Heb. 12:1-14 with Rom. 5:3-5; Acts 14:22; Rom. 12:12
    3. That even the Son of God is spoken of in the Bible as, "A man of sorrow and acquainted with grief" - Is. 53:3
  2. The petition of Jabez concerned itself:
    1. With divine protection against the harm that might come as the result of evil; Examples: We think of Job, how he went through the furnace of affliction, yet he came out of it all without being harmed, but rather helped by his experience" - Job 42:10-14; that was true of Joseph - Ps. 105:17-22; and that was true of many other pilgrims of God who passed through much tribulation
    2. Here is a lesson for God's people, living in the last days. We, too, face difficulties of which we have little premonition; yet God will not allow any of these trials to hurt us, but rather to purify our lives to prepare us for the kingdom of heaven - I Peter 4:12-13
C. THE SPECIAL LESSON FOR US
  1. A prayerful study of the word "evil" as used in the Bible signifies:
    1. Moral corruption, immorality; Examples: The people before the flood were morally evil - Gen. 6:5; Satan is spoken of as "that wicked one" - 2 Thess. 2:8
    2. That which hurts or injures is evil - Gen. 37:20; Prov. 22:3; Job 2:10. Many of the kings of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord continuously
    3. But the word "evil" is used, also, to denote also trials or afflictions, calamities; Says the Lord, "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things" - Is. 45:7
  2. The petition - "that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me," can be used two ways:
    1. That we ask the Lord to not allow temptation to get the mastery of us as it did David - 2 Sam. 11; as it did Judas - Matt. 27:1-5; as it did Anan8ias and his wife Saphira - Acts 5
    2. Secondly, that when trials, sorrows, come to us that these will not hurt our relationship to God as was the case of Job's wife - Job 2:9; as it was with Demas - 2 Tim. 4:10
  3. Think of the comprehensive understanding revealed in the prayer of Jabez:
    1. He was ambitious and that was right - God desires for us to be ambitious in the right way, to make ourselves more useful to God and humanity
    2. But He was very humble, leaning altogether upon the arm of the Lord and what a privilege it is to be guided by the arm of the Lord
    3. He realized that so long as we are in this present, sinful world we are exposed to evil in one form or another, and he desired that the Lord would not allow evil to hurt him
  4. It will be wonderful for us:
    1. To pattern our prayer life after this model prayer in every way - and that for good reason
    2. The Lord is pleased with this type of prayer
    3. "And God granted him that which he requested."


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