Spiritual Hunger

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. 1 Chronicles 4:10

Today, I want to look with you at a man by the name of Jabez. The Bible never describes Jabez as a man with special abilities or talents. He was just an ordinary man with an extraordinary testimony! Like Jabez, we may be ordinary individuals, but we can achieve great things for the Lord!

Jabez was a man who stood out. He wasn’t sitting and waiting for some miracle to fall from the sky. There was something different about him, he pressed in to God and broke through! Interestingly, the first eight chapters of 1 Chronicles are all genealogies. There are over 600 names mentioned, but right in the middle of it, God singles out one man for special recognition-Jabez. “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers” (1 Chr. 4:9). Why was he more honorable? Because of his unusual spiritual hunger.

Spiritual hunger brings three things to a person’s life:

(1) Spiritual hunger births fresh vision. Jabez prayed to God to enlarge his territory! His hunger birth a great vision (4:10). He wasn’t going to live a mediocre life; he wanted to expand and grow! While Jabez’s friends and brothers were satisfied with being average, he wanted the Lord to do something significant in his life.

(2) Spiritual hunger produces faith in God. Evidently, Jabez had some kind of disability as his name in Hebrew means “painful.” He must have caused his mother so much pain when he was born that his mother labeled him as such. Jabez probably had to struggle with being unwanted and unloved. He must have suffered rejection as a child and that would probably have been a big handicap in his life. But Jabez’s faith was stronger than his handicap. So instead of being a cause of pain to others, he rose up and laid hold of God in faith to become a great man of God.

(3) Spiritual hunger brings God’s blessings. Jabez was honored by God because heprayed! He prayed for God’s presence in his life (4:10). He knew that apart from God, he could do nothing. Jabez also prayed for God’s protection in his life. Jabez knew that without God’s protection, he could lose everything overnight. But with God’s presence and protection, he didn’t need to fear anything.

What made Jabez stand out from the crowd? He had something that the rest did not have … spiritual hunger. He did not want to live an ordinary life like the rest of the people. He wanted more from God.