And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren :and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow." "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested" (i Chron. 4:9, 10).

The fact that honorable mention is made of this man, and that God granted his request, should be sufficient to attract our attention and lead us to a closer inquiry, if we would seek His approval and
blessing. What is said in a general way of this man is, that "he was more honorable than his brethren."

This in itself surely is enough to stir our hearts to diligence to know what it is that God so honors, and makes honorable mention of. We shall find too, that such lessons will not be mere statements of doctrine or fact; but living lessons that appeal to our inmost being, and that will lead us to Christ.

As to the details recorded:"His mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow." Here at the beginning we may find connection with another "son of sorrow" called by his mother Benoni-that is, "Son of my sorrow"- called by his father, Benjamin, – "son of my right hand " (Gen. 35:18), pointing on as by the prophet's finger to the Christ, that should first suffer, and enter into His glory. And here may we not see, in a spiritual way, this man, put in company with his Master while waiting for the inheritance, cast upon God in true dependence?

Now, we behold him praying; simple, earnest, believing prayer, to "the God of Israel." He does not forget His connection with His beloved people chosen in grace, and destined for glory, while he turns to seek for himself faith's present portion.

"Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! "

Four things are requested, and how suited! How short, how simple the earnest prayer! How full its blessed answer! "God granted him that which he requested."

"Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed."This is the simple language of trust, and although a "son of sorrow" he knows, that, "the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it."

"The God of Israel is his God" and if sorrowful he may yet be "always rejoicing."

"Enlarge my coast." He asks no mean possessions of Him whose delight it is to give; but more land to till, more fruit to enjoy, more to "earnestly contend for" in the country surrounded with enemies. God had said, " I have given you the land," and faith takes Him at his word; and God honors the man that so honors Him.

He asks according to His word-His word was abiding in him-and he gets the sure answer.
Here, may we not say, he is in company with the wholehearted Caleb ? God is with him, and he has no cause to fear. Covetousness of such sort is not that "which is idolatry" (Eph. 1:15-23; 3:1-21; Col. 3:).

"And that Thine hand might be with me." Not "the wisdom of man" does his faith stand in; "but the power of God." "The mighty hand of God;" opened to satisfy "the need of every living thing," he would humble himself under. The guiding hand of Him who "knows the way He taketh" is the hand he desires should undertake for him; and lead him into his inheritance. And last, as one having "no confidence in the flesh;" and who would "with fear and trembling, work out his own salvation" prays; "That Thou wouldst keep me from evil."

Here we read the sweet testimony of what "the grace of God " does; grace that has brought salvation, and fixes the eyes on the glory of God, and assures the believing soul it is its own. Grace that teaches, not, "Let us do evil, that good may come," but, to abhor evil, and cleave to that which is good; "that having denied ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

The man born in sorrow, brought to know "the God of the living" as his God, received His promises in faith, learned to trust Him for every blessing, now prays in a day of failure, while waiting for the full possession and enjoyment of the promised inheritance, to be "kept from the evil;" adding, "that it may not grieve me." He thus witnesses to his soul's condition, and that which would grieve the Lord, into whose companionship he had been brought, would be a grief to him.

How quickly the eye is now turned from the man "more honorable than his brethren," to his yet more honorable Master, and to hear Him pray, as He considers His own yet in the world:

"Holy Father . . . keep them from the evil." He who was the true "Son of sorrow," born in the very midst of it, and in His life a '' man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," "who bare our griefs and carried our sorrows" in loving sympathy:and still more "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree."

Then, if we have known sorrow, and sin which brought all the sorrow; if we have known that blessed Man that " was made sin for us " to save us from the sorrows of eternal judgment; if we have heard Him say, as He dies under the load that He took for us, when the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, "it is finished; " giving peace to our souls, shall we not uncover our heads, and bow our hearts, as we listen to Him pray:-

"Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are.

" While I was with them in the world I kept them in Thy name:those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

"I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

'' I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world; but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil," and add our earnest Amen! The same God that honored Jabez, and granted his request, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," shall grant us His blessing, and keep us from falling.

May the Lord lead us for His own name's sake.

'' The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thess. 3:3). W. M. H.