The Prayer of the Persecuted
Do you remember The Prayer of Jabez by author Bruce Wilkinson? Published by Multnomah Books in 2000, The Prayer of Jabez has sold over ten million copies. For those of you who enjoy statistics, that’s approximately the same number sold to date of the Tortured for Christ book by The Voice of the Martyrs founder, Richard Wurmbrand.
“Jabez” is perhaps one of the more obscure Biblical characters in Scripture, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. Ironically, he decidedly and posthumously enjoyed his “15 minutes of fame” when many in the North American church adopted Jabez as a pseudo “Poster Boy of Prosperity.” The Biblical story goes like this…
“Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’ And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.’ So God granted him what he requested.”
Quite honestly, I think we all may have thought twice about uttering Jabez’s almost mystical prayer with the attendant expectation that God would be bound to lavish upon us greater fields and greater yields. Now, don’t misunderstand my point. God, as our loving Heavenly Father, wants to lavish upon us those things that we need along life’s journey as His children so that we might succeed in the mission He has given us in the building of His Kingdom on earth. He also wants to grant us the ‘desires of our hearts.’ But like any loving father, He would never give us anything that would harm us or would not “deliver us from evil.”
We’re told in the foregoing passage that Jabez was “more honourable than his brothers,” as if to suggest that his requests were somewhat validated by his own virtues. Of course, we know this to be untrue, as anything good that comes to us ultimately comes from God according to His grace and mercy. While affirming His authority over all things, it is the Lord who is honoured in this story for extending His graciousness to his petitioning servant. The man, Jabez, who is seen in his time as “honourable” in recognizing the God of Israel, must himself come before the throne of grace and fervently ask in faith for blessings that would assumedly bless others in God’s name.
I would allow that Jabez’s faith and commitment would have survived a simple “no” from God, despite the fact that his story has generated such unrealistic material expectations amongst so many modern-day Christians. Perhaps the most poignant juxtaposition in exemplifying the polarity of opinion on this matter is in the stark contrast between a materially bound North American Christian (we, here, have all been impacted by our culture) and the earnest faith and prayers of those who are displaced and persecuted for Jesus’ sake in today’s world.
The “prayer of the persecuted” would not be a request for increased territory (they barely have a bed to sleep on) or more wealth (their accounts have all been frozen and their funds stolen).... They would probably not even ask God for Jabez’s petition, “...keep me from evil so that I may not cause pain,” as their daily lives are about confronting evil with love and bearing unspeakable pain. But the prayer of the persecuted would be a pure and powerful expression of the joy that rises up from complete surrender to God, even in the midst of such tragic and desperate circumstances.
We, at The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, hear such prayers every day, and from every corner of the earth where we are actively engaged in bringing your love and material blessings to those who are in peril for Christ. We know you’ve made sacrificial choices in voluntarily providing generous gifts which God is using for His purposes and glory, and for that we are eternally grateful.
I would enjoy hearing from you, and now pray God’s most profound and powerful blessing upon you and your family as you serve Him in and through the ways that He has chosen you to serve.
- Doug
