In the early 2000’s there was a fad with the Prayer of Jabez. It was based on a fairly minor character in the book of Chronicles. He is mentioned in the lineage of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. A place is named after him and it is thought he may have been an instructor to others at this place. When he is mentioned it is noted that he prayed to God the following:
“If only you would greatly bless me and increase my territory. May your power go with me to keep me from trouble, so as not to cause me pain.”
It’s like a talisman. Bless me, enrich me, keep me out of trouble and pain God. I think a lot of us have prayed something similar at times. Yet it’s so different from the way of Jesus who calls us into the struggle and mess of life, calling us to take up our crosses and follow him. We want to believe that if we are good and do the right things God will reward us. That we will be blessed. We will be happy and bad things won’t happen to us. We begin to treat God like a pretty great insurance plan that prevents natural disasters and despair.
This is not the real world. As soon as something bad happens then we have to go to the extreme of being punished or God being angry at us. This seesaw of blessed and punished makes our faith like a vending machine where we put in good behavior and get out candy or coal.
This lent may we choose a path that allows us to balance and know that God’s blessings don’t look like the success of the world. It’s not riches or ease that show us we are on the path of God, but a deep heart knowledge of God’s peace with us always, not matter what life may bring us.
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