Bless Me Indeed
1 Chronicles 4:9,10 Jabez was honoured more than his brothers; and his mother named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!” And God granted what he asked.
Yesterday we met Jabez, quite a remarkable young man by all accounts back there in the Old Testament. A man who prayed the strangest of prayers. A prayer that, in this day and age, we might imagine to be just a tad narcissistic.
I wonder, do you expect God to bless you? I mean is your life, is the way that you think and act, completely premised on an absolute belief that God wants to bless you?
Or are you kind of hanging in there, hoping that one day, maybe, if you’re good enough, if God finds the time, if the wind’s blowing in the right direction … just maybe, God might bless you?
Back in the Old Testament, a complete nobody by the name of Jabez prayed this to God:
1 Chronicles 4:10 Oh that you would bless me indeed!
Now some Bible translations, including the one that I typically use in Fresh, omit that word “indeed” and that’s a big mistake. Because the way that it’s written in the original Hebrew language, it’s as though he was underlining it, writing it in bold, with three exclamation marks behind it. Jabez wanted God to bless him, not just a bit, but a lot! And we’re told right there in that same verse, 1 Chronicles 4:10, that … God granted what he asked.
When was the last time you asked God to bless you … a lot!!! I know that it may sound a tad narcissistic but it’s something that I ask God to do pretty much every day. Because God’s blessing isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s not just the icing on the cake. It’s an absolute necessity to being all that God made us to be and in doing all that He’s called us to do.
Oh that you would bless me indeed!!!
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Kendra
Oh, this is so true! And we forget that Scripture tells us to come BOLDLY before the throne. God gets excited when His ...
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Oh, this is so true! And we forget that Scripture tells us to come BOLDLY before the throne. God gets excited when His children ask for BIG things- that bless not only us, but those around us- for His glory. 💗