Jim Gallagher

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

“Now Jabez was more honorable 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.”

Tucked away in a sea of names, we find the brief story of a man named Jabez. From the bits of data recorded about him, we learn he was an honorable man who left a mark upon his world. His name reveals much regarding his upbringing. Jabez meant “to cause pain.” He received that name because of the difficulties surrounding his birth. It seems as though his mother never got over that trauma, because Jabez grew up…