"Pray Through The Pressure"

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10    

Many words in Scripture have multiple meanings. We often misinterpret the text by applying the wrong meaning of the word. One such word is the word "honorable" as used in this text when referring to Jabez. According to the Hebrew lexicon, the word "honorable" is the Hebrew word "kavad" and it means: "to be heavy, weighty, grievous, hard, rich, glorious, burdensome, honored." Clearly, the meaning is widely varied from being grievous to being glorious. In our English language the meaning is pretty straight forward and it is synonymous with words like honest, moral, ethical, respectable, etc. but we don't associate it with those negative definitions such as weighty, grievous, or burdensome.

When the writer of Chronicles gives us this brief statement about Jabez, could it be that his use of the word "kavad" is referring to Jabez being under greater pressure (heavy, weighty, grievous, burdensome) than his brothers? Could it be that he is not expressing that Jabez was more glorious but more grievous? Jabez was under a lot of pressure from the time of his birth.

With this interpretation, the prayer of Jabez is the prayer of a man under great stress and pressure. The 10th verse reads "And Jabez called on the God of Israel." Jabez did not just make a simple request. The tense of the verb "called" indicates that he called and kept on calling with intensity and repetition. Jabez is a model to teach us what we should do when we are under tremendous pressure. Pray and keep on praying.