A “Jabez” Year

Back in 2011, my transplant year, I accepted a challenge I heard on the radio–I picked a word for the new year.  My word for that year was “believe,” which is what I needed to do at the time; I needed to believe that, though I had been told that cancer was attempting to overthrow my body and whole life, God was still in control–and he could handle what I couldn’t.  My word for the following year was “testify,” which is what I then needed to do; I needed to testify to how amazingly God can take care of whatever it is that we must face.  I must admit now, though, that I cannot recall picking a New Year’s word the past several years.  I wanted to but seemed to lack clarity regarding my focus and my future.

As I mulled over words today, I had that moment of clarify that I’ve been wishing for quite a while.  And in that moment the word “Jabez” is where I ended up.  Yes, it might be a little unorthodox, as I’ve noticed that most who take the “word for the new year” challenge seem to choose verbs or adjectives.  But, sweet Jabez it is!  His time in Holy Scripture is brief at best but impactful over the years to so many.  His mother gave him a name meaning “pain” (talk about a curse!).  I looked “Jabez” up and in Hebrew it literally means “sorrowful” or “sorrow-maker.”  So, for those of us who feel like we’ve been saddled with certain types of baggage due to poor choices our parents made, the story of Jabez should give us hope.

You see, Jabez did not allow his name at birth to hold him back.  Though precious little is known about him, the history books have indicated that he was probably a very learned man; thus, surely he knew what his name really meant, particularly since names were so very significant in the culture of his day.  A lot of times we’re given names too lofty to live up to but what about being given a name to live down to?  (While I can’t be sure, I’m guessing Jabez wasn’t exactly a mama’s boy.)  Yet, with a such a name as he had, Jabez had something else most unexpected.  He had the sheer audacity to muster up a most unashamed prayer to his awesome Creator asking to be blessed in ways that boggle my mind and probably even more so the Old Testament minds around him–especially since we’re told that God actually answered Jabez’s bold prayer.

In the fourth chapter of the book of 1 Chronicles, Jabez asked to be blessed, he asked for his territory to be enlarged, he asked for the hand of the God of Israel to be with him, and he asked to be kept from harm and thus free from pain–all of this from a man whose name means “pain.”  We don’t know of anything all that special about Jabez, only that he was more honorable than his brothers; and we know, based upon his prayer, that he wasn’t shy with God.  We know too that God must be okay with that–with more than one request, with very bold requests, with requests from someone whose very name literally contradicts what they’re asking God for.

Yep, this year I want to dare to be the likes of Jabez.  I want to be someone God somehow sees as honorable and someone who is willing to go out on a limb and ask him Don Quixote-like prayers–the impossible dream kind of prayers.  And I want to be someone who doesn’t mind at all if people are shocked when they see my name and hear my life story and find themselves saying, “Wow, God did that for the likes of her?!”