Whenever I come across biblical stories, I try to create a modern-day experience. Here are my thoughts when I studied the story of Jabez:
(Phone Rings...)
Caller: Hello, Caleb? Are you there?
Caleb: Yes, I'm here.
Caller: You need to come into the head office for a brief meeting with the boss.
(Caleb is interrupted)
Caller: Wait, just hold on for a second... Okay, sir. Actually, you don't need to come in. Just hand over the keys to the security personnel unit. Someone will pick them up.
Caleb: What's going on?
Caller: It's nothing personal, Caleb. It's just business. We need to foreclose your contract. The company wishes you well in your future endeavors.
(Caller hangs up...)
(Caleb's phone rings again)
Caller (Soon-to-be wife): Caleb, where are you? I told my family you'd start the marital process soon. Have you changed your mind?
Caleb: No, I haven't. It's just... things aren't going well.
Caller: It seems you can't make it work. Let's just end it now.
(Caller hangs up)
Caleb thought: "Do you know I've toiled night and day, but the planting season has yielded nothing? Today, my bosses said I'm the epitome of failure. Was it always meant to be this way? Is there more to my story?"
"My mother was the first to notice this curse. Today, before I could even open the shop, the goods sent to me caught fire. 365 days of bad luck – that's my fate. Can it be changed? Is there more I can do?"
As Caleb walked down the road of no return, he saw someone approaching. The closer the person came, the more Caleb felt a chill, then fire. His knees felt heavy, and he fell.
The stranger's smile was reassuring, and warmth spread through Caleb's body. He wept, crying harder than ever before. For the first time, he felt safe.
The stranger whispered, "I see you, Jabez. The new beginning we prayed for has come."
Oh, how joyful Jabez would have been.
Jabez is derived from the Hebrew word "yabetz," which means "pain" or "sorrow." He was named after the sorrow his mother went through, but that did not let him settle on this. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10:
"Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain.'" The Bible says, "And Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.'" And God granted his request.
For everyone going through a pattern of troubles and chaos, just like Jabez, your set time for deliverance has come. Go ahead and talk to God about it.
God is saying to someone today that that negative pattern is destroyed; you are renamed "Favour," and nothing will stand in your way.
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