Nugget Mining

⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,^[a] saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.  1 Chronicles 4:9-10

What?!!!  You mean I could have prayed and asked God to keep me from harm so I could have been free from pain?!  Somehow I missed that nugget back when the “Prayer of Jabez” was all the rage a few years back and I was reading/praying it.  I distinctly and clearly recall reading and praying to have my blessings and territory increased.   Yet, blindly glossed right over the last phrase.  Yes, I asked God to keep His hand with me, but feebly figured that since I lived such a b-o-r-i-n-g life the harm and pain portions would wait or lacked merit.  WRONG!!!

Months, than weeks and years filled with one misstep, mistake monumental blunder or error in judgement after another that kept me on the fringes of pain.  Harm not so much, but pain…buckets full.  Oh wait, it was buckets full of tears shed because of the pain.   My nugget mining days had not yet begun and I believed that if God allowed the hurt it must have been for my own good.   I did not stop talking to God, but there were days where the exchanges were less than cordial and my reverent tone was definitely missing.  More than one the utterance of “Come on, God!”  escaped my anguished lips.   The sought after increase of territory, well it did finally appear, but prosperity it seems was not what I truly desired.  God knew that in order for my territory to increase I needed the pain, moments of despair and doubt in order to be ready to serve.   Through those lessons came the willingness and desire to humbly and unconditionally love and help others.   Again, I have arrived at the realization that we are here to mine nuggets that will later enrich and help the lives of others. 

Making His praise glorious!

Ree

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• The Crux of Jabez’s prayer (thepauls.wordpress.com)

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