2018 Summer Series: I Love to Tell the Story

Part 8 Prayer of Jabez, part 4

Oh, that You would keep me from evil!

I must admit that this post has been the most challenging thus far.  Why? Because it’s not easy for me to reconcile the harmful experiences in my life with the concept of God as protector. Even clarifying the meaning of “protector”; which means one who shields from danger, injury, destruction, or damage, didn’t help. In fact, more questions were raised as I wondered, such as “How does the final part of Jabez’s prayer mesh with the harmful circumstances we face? When bad things happen, has He been a negligent Protector? Has He overlooked us? With my recent diagnosis of cancer that had metastasized from the small growth on my tongue into the lymph nodes in my neck, I have struggled with some of these questions. It seemed ironic that I got the diagnosis as I was preparing to write the devotional for, “This is the Year of the Favour of Our Lord” (2018 Summer Series: I Love to Tell the Story, part 4).

Ah, God’s favour—does it still exist when we are faced with threatening conditions? Yes! Are the threatening circumstances we experience indicators that God’s favour is no longer with us? No! And sometimes we need others to point out His faithfulness when we are pulled down by the gravity of certain situations.  The Scriptures tell us that God sends His angels to minister to His people (Hebrews 1:14).  To encourage you, let me share an experience that I had in the fall of ‘97 or ‘98:

I would spend evenings at a local library and then walk to the nearby shopping area. Between these 2 locations there was a dark, heavily wooded area. One evening, as I was walking toward the shops,  a very old car sped into the parking lot of an abandoned auto shop, cutting me off so that I was compelled to stop. A middle-aged lady jumped out of the driver’s side of the car and asked me if I would like a ride somewhere. I thanked her, but explained that I didn’t have much farther to walk, it was a nice evening, and I needed the exercise. She repeated her question. Apparently, she was in no hurry, because she spent several minutes chatting with me. Finally, she looked around—as if she was checking for something—seemed satisfied, wished me a good evening, and said, “God bless you.”

As I watched her drive away, I noticed a bumper sticker from the 1970s:”My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter”! I turned to yell out, “Mine, too!” But the car had vanished! I was standing in the only entrance and exit to the lot! I knew I had had an encounter with an angel, but I didn’t know why. When I recounted this experience to a mentor, her conclusion was that God sent me an angel to protect me.

 Surely we have all been in unsafe situations and not known how God was protecting us from harm, from evil.

In “The Prayer of Jabez” Wilkinson points out some essential truths about being kept from evil: 1) The more we engage in a life of supernatural service for Christ, the more attacks we should expect from our nemesis, Satan, such as “distractions, oppositions, and oppression (p. 64); 2) there would be no sin if there was no temptation;3) even in the Lord’s prayer, Jesus models the need to ask for deliverance from temptation and evil. (pp. 67-68).

When did we last pray, “deliver me from temptation?   Or “keep me from harm?”

And now we have briefly looked at the 4 components of Jabez’s prayer: Bless me indeed ( a lot); enlarge my borders (ministry); may Your hand be on me (for protection and power); and keep me from evil.  Praying Jabez’s prayer daily is a powerful way to stir up our faith!  I hope you will join me in this day-to-day prayer, too!

In the next post, the challenge will be to “Tell Your Story!”

Blessings & Peace

Elizabeth Hogan Hayduk

Former Salvation Army Officer/pastor

Canada