More Honourable Than His Brothers

More Honourable Than His Brothers

1 Chronicles 4:9 - "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren…"

Most people remember Jabez because of what he asked God to give him, but the Bible introduces him by telling us something about the kind of man he already was. Before we hear "enlarge my territory," we hear that Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. That order deserves our attention because it places character before enlargement.

We naturally notice visible increase. We notice the promotion, the growing business, the larger platform, the successful ministry, the bigger house and the new opportunity. What is much harder to see is the person who must carry all of it. Yet Scripture repeatedly shows God doing deep work in people before entrusting them with greater responsibility.

Joseph did not move directly from his father's house to Pharaoh's palace. Between the dream and its fulfilment were years of service, injustice, temptation, prison and waiting. Those years were painful, but they were not empty. The young man who had once told his brothers his dreams became the man who could later hold enormous authority without using it simply to destroy the brothers who had betrayed him.

David also received an anointing long before he received a throne. Between Samuel's oil and Israel's crown came sheep, battles, caves, betrayal and opportunities to seize by force what God had promised to give him in His own time. God was preparing more than a throne for David; He was preparing David for the throne.

Sometimes we are asking God to increase what is around us while He is working on what is within us. We ask for greater influence and He develops humility. We ask for greater responsibility and He teaches discipline. We ask for more resources and He confronts our stewardship. We ask to lead and He teaches us how to serve. These seasons can feel unrelated to the prayer we have been praying, yet they may be part of God's answer.

A larger territory does not automatically create a larger person. In fact, enlargement often exposes what was already present. Money can expose our relationship with money. Authority can expose our relationship with power. Visibility can expose how deeply we need approval. Success can reveal whether we loved God Himself or merely loved what we hoped He would give us.

This is why the description of Jabez matters. The man asking for enlargement was already described as honourable. His prayer was not simply the ambition of somebody desperate to possess more. Scripture deliberately tells us something about his character first.

It gives us a different question to carry into prayer. Instead of asking only, "Lord, when will You give me more?" we can also ask, "Lord, who am I becoming while I wait?"

If the opportunity arrived tomorrow, would we have the wisdom to handle it? If the money arrived, would we have the discipline to steward it? If the influence arrived, would we still listen when corrected? If the door opened, would we still pray as desperately as we did while standing outside it?

There are things God may need to build in us before what we are asking for can safely be built around us. Waiting is not always evidence that nothing is happening. Sometimes the most important work is taking place where nobody can see it.

Jabez was honourable before we read his prayer for enlargement. Perhaps today we do not need to hurry past that sentence. Before asking for a larger territory, we can invite God to make us the kind of people who can be trusted inside one.

Prayer

Father, before I ask You for more, I ask You to work deeply in me. Make me trustworthy with what You have already placed in my hands. Show me the areas of my character that need attention and give me enough humility to allow You to correct them. Teach me faithfulness when nobody is watching and patience when nothing appears to be changing. Build wisdom, discipline, compassion and integrity in me. Do not allow my gifts to take me somewhere my character cannot sustain me. Prepare me for the prayers I am praying. If there are things I need to learn before enlargement comes, teach me now. When the door eventually opens, let an honourable person be ready to walk through it. In Jesus' name, Amen.