Good morning. It’s Monday, May 11th, aka National Technology Day.

🥳 Congratulations on starting today with God, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

📖 Verse Of The Day

— 1 Chronicles 4:10

🧠 Devotional

Let’s talk about a lesser-known person in the Bible named Jabez.

Jabez shows up in the middle of a long genealogy in 1 Chronicles, you know the part you usually skip where it’s just name after name after name.

And that’s exactly what’s happening here until we get to Jabez.

The Bible actually slows down and tells you more about his story, he’s not just another name in the list.

Here’s what it says:

1 Chronicles 4:9–10 (KJV)

“And Jabez was more honourable 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 wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

That is basically everything the Bible tells us about Jabez.

We know he was part of the tribe of Judah’s family line, because that’s the genealogy he appears in. We know his name was connected to pain, because his mother said she bore him “with sorrow.”

We also know Jabez was “more honourable than his brethren.” The Bible does not give us a full list of his accomplishments, but it does tell us his character stood out.

Then we see why his story is remembered.

Jabez calls on God and asks for four things: blessing, enlarged territory, God’s hand with him, and protection from evil so it would not grieve him.

He is not just asking for more stuff. He is asking God to change the direction of his life, to be with him, and to keep pain from becoming the theme of his story.

And the verse ends by saying God granted what he requested.

So we learn this from Jabez’s story: you may not control how your story starts, but you can go to God and ask Him to change where it’s going.