Should we pray the jabez prayer?

Jabez and Hermeneutics, June 4, 2001
By John E. Geiger, THE HILL (Montgomery, AL United States) - See all my reviews
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Jabez's prayer contains some very honorable petitions. I think they are worthy of meditation and reflection. His prayer may even be an impetus to pray differently. Sadly, he is one of the many biblical and historical characters who loved God, and yet, so very little about them is revealed to us. Their story is reserved for another time, another place, another realm.
I believe that if the reader were to really believe The Prayer of Jabez, and follow Dr. Wilkinson's advice, the reader would be inviting four holes to develop in his Christian foundation and these will be the genesis of a significant "eating away" of one's faith.

Hole #1 Hermeneutics - this is the theological word for "the art and science of interpreting Scripture's meaning." The focus is on how to understand the author's intended meaning for a text. There are methods for doing proper exegesis (drawing the meaning out of the text), and they focus on understanding the author's purpose for the book and the context of thought where the passage is found. Scripturally, one would ask the questions, "What is the meaning of this passage?" "Why is it present in the book?" Relating this to 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, our main concern should be this, "Is there any insight in the context which says this prayer is to be for all believers?" Does the writer give word or inferences that the life of Jabez is one that he wants all to emulate? Does the rest of Scripture do any of this with Jabez's life and prayer? If not, then why can this passage be used to promote the principles The Prayer of Jabez is promoting?

Hermeneutics establishes the rules that govern the perimeters of meaning and application a passage can support. Where is the biblical authority to make the following statement, "I want to show you just how dramatically each of Jabez's requests can release something miraculous in your life?" (page 15)

Hole #2 Testimony of the historical Church - is there any evidence that anyone in Church history has advocated praying Jabez's prayer like Dr. Wilkinson is recommending? Approximately 4000 years has gone by since Jabez. Was this prayer mentioned by the prophets? Old Testament saints? Jesus? Apostles? Church Fathers? Reformers? Why has there been such silence on this prayer? Dr. Wilkinson is advocating for it to be prayed every day and calls it "the second most important sentence in my life." Do you think a prayer of this importance would have been mentioned, or practiced, by the historic Christian community? Does the silence of history in this matter caution the present day Christian community? I think it should.

Hole #4 Logic and Reasoning One particularly important faculty of the mind is reasoning. I think Christians should be disturbed by the reasoning used in The Prayer of Jabez. In general, I think it is a good practice to make note of what honorable people do. This is one of the reasons people enjoy reading biographies of famous, honorable historical figures. Individual character and thought produce actions and words. But, the formula does not necessarily work backwards -- honorable words and actions do not always produce honorable character and thoughts. It is a mistake to think that imitating an honorable person's actions will necessarily make one honorable.

Do you see the fallacy in this? It has to do with cause and effect. Jabez, an honorable man (cause), prayed a prayer and it was granted (effect). In Wilkinson's The Prayer of Jabez, the focus is taken off of the "person" of Jabez and placed on his "asking". The new cause is the "prayer" itself and not Jabez.

A further unhealthy use of logic and reasoning is found early in the book, on page 11. "The next morning, I prayed Jabez's prayer word for word. And the next. And the next. Thirty years later, I haven't stopped." Chapter seven of the book is a story of what has happened in the life of Dr. Wilkinson over the past thirty years; it is a very impressive chapter. However, now we see he credits these blessings to God granting his and his wife's daily Jabez prayer. The logical fallacy being displayed is formally called post hoc (Latin for "after this"). Just because there was an activity before an event does not make it the cause for the event nor does it create a formula generating similar results. Remember the rooster who thought he made the sun come up because of his daily, morning crowing?

What do we make of all this? What I intend for this article to do is to draw attention to a lurking danger. Dr. Wilkinson is prompting the Christian community to do more with this passage of Scripture than was intended by the author. Now, I'm not suggesting life will suddenly come crashing down around the person who follows his advice. What will happen is a subtle loss of understanding of how to read, interpret, and apply the Scriptures. If so much can be drawn from an obscure life tucked away in Chronicles, if so many good thinkers have missed this over the centuries, then, shouldn't we feel a bit bewildered? What else are we missing? How do I know I understand the meaning of the Scriptures at all? The Scriptures now become more of a mystery versus a knowable communication from the living God to human beings.

Ideas have consequences. Decisions matter. Language matters. God's language must be properly interpreted and applied or we can expect an eroded faith, full of holes. When Scripture is interpreted properly, Christ, The Rock, is revealed to us. On Him we can build our faith and stand against new ideas, clever arguments, and distractions.