Seeing Past The Pain

Seeing Past the Pain

The Mother Of Jabez

Read: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

The woman in today’s passage named her son Jabez because his birth was so painful. Many women can identify with the agony of a long, painful labor and delivery, but after the baby finally arrives, women usually forget their suffering. They don’t choose a name for their child that permanently reminds them of the ordeal. Jabez’s mother must have been so consumed by her suffering that she couldn’t think of anything else when he arrived.

If this woman could only have foreseen the future at the moment of delivery. The Bible gives us little information about her son, but it does tell us that he grew up to be “more honorable than any of his brothers.” As a further testimony to his godly character, Scripture records one of his prayers. Jabez asked God to bless him, expand his territory, be with him, and keep him from trouble and pain.

Jabez’s mother must have been proud and joyful as she watched her son grow to love and obey God. The suffering she endured at his birth was worth it all as she witnessed God’s granting her son’s request. She didn’t know that centuries later, her son’s prayer would become the basis for a number-one New York Times best seller (The Prayer of Jabez) and appear on everything from mugs to t-shirts and key chains.

When we’re enduring a painful ordeal, all we can see is our suffering. We may be tempted to turn from God and become bitter toward life. But God sees the future, and only he knows the purpose of our pain. Our worst trials sometimes turn out to be our greatest blessings. If we trust God’s leadership, the memory of our suffering will eventually be eclipsed by deep, lasting joy—as the mother of Jabez learned.

I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.

Isaiah 48:10