Who Can Claim this Prayer?
(A Review of The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkinson)
by Dick Donnenwirth, LLPC
After seeing this book appear in the top 10-15 on the best seller list week after week, I decided to find out for myself why it was so popular. It didn't take me long! This is a powerful little book about a powerful little prayer tucked away right in the middle of the genealogy lists of I Chronicles. Within the span of just two verses, we learn a man's name, his birth trauma, several things about his family of origin, his trust in God, his prayer for gift and protection and that God granted his request. Now that's pretty compact!
Some of my clergy colleagues tell me this prayer is too selfish to be Christian. Others believe the little book's author has attempted to Christianize a non-Christian prayer. Still others are suspicious of Wilkinson because of his leadership in the Promise Keepers movement. His little book about this little prayer is filled with his personal examples of how his life has changed by praying this prayer daily for 30 years. Let's not judge too quickly and risk overlooking a powerful tool in our spiritual life.
I found myself pouring over dusty translations and commentaries and, frankly, had trouble finding where the author got the interpretation "keep me from causing pain." But - hey - that works for me - asking God's help to ensure I don't add to others' misery in my attempt to help them.
And what about the whole idea of "enlarge my territory." Could that possibly mean expand my world-view? We have all had our little world expanded these last few months in horrific, fearsome but perhaps hopeful ways. Questions like who speaks for God and who is my neighbor and what is justice all have taken on a new dimension of meaning. We'd all better be mighty careful when we say "God bless America" because blessings sometimes come in strange forms with strange challenges.
I took this 93 page book along on a recent fishing trip which was supposed to be just a relaxing, kick-back time with no challenges. But with Jabez and his prayer in the back of my mind, I soon learned my previously hard-talking guide had been "saved" and wanted to share his zeal with me. Furthermore, on the last evening outside my motel room I encountered a Roman Catholic woman with an internet following for her visions of Mary. Now, might I have had these experiences without Jabez? Sure! But maybe . . . just maybe . .
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