2/25/2004
Foresight
#31 Foresight
I have been thinking about foresight. To foresee is to see beforehand. A person with foresight has the ability to look ahead, see what is coming and act on what is seen in a positive way. What started me thinking about this is an old novel I was recently rereading. At the beginning of each chapter there are two or three relevant epigrams. A short one from the Roman Poet Ovid’s “Love’s Cure” caught my eye:
“Beginnings check, too late is physic sought.” Ovid invoked Apollo, who was believed the inventor of both poetry and medicine, as he began his work. The quotation is found in the passage below:
“If you repent you of your love, stop on the threshold while you yet are able and ere yet your heart has been too deeply stirred. Suppress, ere yet they have gained too strong a hold, the evil signs of the sudden seizure; and at the very outset let your steed refuse to go another step. Time makes all things to increase; time ripens the grape upon the vine; it changes the blade of tender green into the sturdy stalk. The tree, that shelters the wayfarer beneath its spreading branches, was, when 'twas planted, but a feeble sapling. Then you might have dragged it from the surface of the soil; now it stands a mighty tree deep-rooted in the earth. Consider, in a rapid mental inventory, what it is you love, and withdraw your neck from the yoke that is bound one day to hurt you. Fight against it at the beginning. It is late in the day to make up physic when delay has given the disease time to get a hold on you.”
In terms of sexual mores, the culture of first century Rome was about as sorry as that of twenty-first century America -- I would not spend much time studying Ovid on love. But as I read this my mind went immediately to prunes. The use of prunes by the elderly needs little discussion. Regularity is a prize highly valued and earnestly sought as we get older. For most people, regularity of use insures regularity of function. But there are some who use prunes like aspirin, they wait until the headache comes before they resort to the remedy. This seldom works with prunes – prunes require the virtue of foresight and the discipline of a long obedience in the same direction.
I no longer have the book, “Servant Leadership” by Robert K. Greenleaf, but I remember well what he said about leadership and foresight. The leader must be, first of all, one who sees a little farther ahead than the followers. He must discern, better than others, what is far off and take such actions as are appropriate before calamity arrives in the full view of all. The failure of a leader to exercise foresight that improves the group or protects the group from disaster is a moral failure.
This thought led me to the Bush Doctrine of Preemption. What President Bush has done in response to 9/11 is a good example of the moral leadership Greenleaf speaks of. There has been much discussion about whether disaster was imminent, and whether the President said so. It was not, and he did not. To wait for disaster to become imminent (and obvious to all), is to fail to exercise the foresight, which is the moral duty of leadership.
No one knows for sure what would have happened if Al Gore and Friends had been in the White House on 9/11. Knowing Al Gore, and taking at face value the statements of those Democrats who would currently wish to be President, I suspect we would still be debating the proper composition of a politically correct focus group that would be asked to evaluate various scenarios spelling out ways in which we might respond to 9/11 without spending too much money or hurting anyone’s feelings, especially the United Nations bureaucrats.
In the meantime, the Democratic Administration would have been busy practicing their normal politics -- taking money from people who do not vote for them and giving it to people who do vote for them. This assumes, of course, that the Jihadists had not managed to turn Chicago into a desert with a suitcase nuclear device or poison half the State of California with a biological agent. I think this would be a presumptuous assumption.
Anyhow, back to prunes. “Beginnings check, too late is physic sought,” should probably be printed prominently on all boxes of pitted prunes and all jugs of prune juice. The Nanny State being what it is, we should not be surprised to see this happen sometime soon.
The final thought that came was this: Ovid died not long after Jesus was born. Jesus had something to say about foresight as well. As usual there was a paradox involved. On the one hand, Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.” (Matthew 6.34). On the other hand he told parables about counting the cost (Luke 14.28-32 -- Building a tower and going to war) and planning ahead (Matthew 25.1.13 – the Ten Virgins) These parables suggest that failure to exercise foresight has objective moral consequences.
Believers are not to be anxious over tomorrow while at the same time exercising foresight, which is a service to themselves and others. For Jesus on leaders and leadership see Matthew 23.9-10: “Do not be called leaders, for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant.” Also, in Luke 22.25-27: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But it is not this way with you, but the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant…I am among you as one who serves.” Our leadership is to be that of the servant, and it includes the exercise of foresight in the behalf of those who follow.
My mind and my words have wandered far from a 2,000-year-old epigram, but that is the marvel of the human mind. It is called “slippage” and is the primary reason why artificial intelligence will ultimately fail to fully reproduce human intelligence. No computer, no matter how big, how powerful, and how well-programmed will go from “foresight,” to “physic” to “prunes” to “servant leadership” to “preemption” to “politics” to “parables” without getting lost or blowing a fuse.
Here is a relevant poem to finish up:
PLUMBING
PSALM
New
Every morning
Is the joy of
A fast running
drain.
Selah!
JS-8/74-021
I have been thinking about foresight. To foresee is to see beforehand. A person with foresight has the ability to look ahead, see what is coming and act on what is seen in a positive way. What started me thinking about this is an old novel I was recently rereading. At the beginning of each chapter there are two or three relevant epigrams. A short one from the Roman Poet Ovid’s “Love’s Cure” caught my eye:
“Beginnings check, too late is physic sought.” Ovid invoked Apollo, who was believed the inventor of both poetry and medicine, as he began his work. The quotation is found in the passage below:
“If you repent you of your love, stop on the threshold while you yet are able and ere yet your heart has been too deeply stirred. Suppress, ere yet they have gained too strong a hold, the evil signs of the sudden seizure; and at the very outset let your steed refuse to go another step. Time makes all things to increase; time ripens the grape upon the vine; it changes the blade of tender green into the sturdy stalk. The tree, that shelters the wayfarer beneath its spreading branches, was, when 'twas planted, but a feeble sapling. Then you might have dragged it from the surface of the soil; now it stands a mighty tree deep-rooted in the earth. Consider, in a rapid mental inventory, what it is you love, and withdraw your neck from the yoke that is bound one day to hurt you. Fight against it at the beginning. It is late in the day to make up physic when delay has given the disease time to get a hold on you.”
In terms of sexual mores, the culture of first century Rome was about as sorry as that of twenty-first century America -- I would not spend much time studying Ovid on love. But as I read this my mind went immediately to prunes. The use of prunes by the elderly needs little discussion. Regularity is a prize highly valued and earnestly sought as we get older. For most people, regularity of use insures regularity of function. But there are some who use prunes like aspirin, they wait until the headache comes before they resort to the remedy. This seldom works with prunes – prunes require the virtue of foresight and the discipline of a long obedience in the same direction.
I no longer have the book, “Servant Leadership” by Robert K. Greenleaf, but I remember well what he said about leadership and foresight. The leader must be, first of all, one who sees a little farther ahead than the followers. He must discern, better than others, what is far off and take such actions as are appropriate before calamity arrives in the full view of all. The failure of a leader to exercise foresight that improves the group or protects the group from disaster is a moral failure.
This thought led me to the Bush Doctrine of Preemption. What President Bush has done in response to 9/11 is a good example of the moral leadership Greenleaf speaks of. There has been much discussion about whether disaster was imminent, and whether the President said so. It was not, and he did not. To wait for disaster to become imminent (and obvious to all), is to fail to exercise the foresight, which is the moral duty of leadership.
No one knows for sure what would have happened if Al Gore and Friends had been in the White House on 9/11. Knowing Al Gore, and taking at face value the statements of those Democrats who would currently wish to be President, I suspect we would still be debating the proper composition of a politically correct focus group that would be asked to evaluate various scenarios spelling out ways in which we might respond to 9/11 without spending too much money or hurting anyone’s feelings, especially the United Nations bureaucrats.
In the meantime, the Democratic Administration would have been busy practicing their normal politics -- taking money from people who do not vote for them and giving it to people who do vote for them. This assumes, of course, that the Jihadists had not managed to turn Chicago into a desert with a suitcase nuclear device or poison half the State of California with a biological agent. I think this would be a presumptuous assumption.
Anyhow, back to prunes. “Beginnings check, too late is physic sought,” should probably be printed prominently on all boxes of pitted prunes and all jugs of prune juice. The Nanny State being what it is, we should not be surprised to see this happen sometime soon.
The final thought that came was this: Ovid died not long after Jesus was born. Jesus had something to say about foresight as well. As usual there was a paradox involved. On the one hand, Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.” (Matthew 6.34). On the other hand he told parables about counting the cost (Luke 14.28-32 -- Building a tower and going to war) and planning ahead (Matthew 25.1.13 – the Ten Virgins) These parables suggest that failure to exercise foresight has objective moral consequences.
Believers are not to be anxious over tomorrow while at the same time exercising foresight, which is a service to themselves and others. For Jesus on leaders and leadership see Matthew 23.9-10: “Do not be called leaders, for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant.” Also, in Luke 22.25-27: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But it is not this way with you, but the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant…I am among you as one who serves.” Our leadership is to be that of the servant, and it includes the exercise of foresight in the behalf of those who follow.
My mind and my words have wandered far from a 2,000-year-old epigram, but that is the marvel of the human mind. It is called “slippage” and is the primary reason why artificial intelligence will ultimately fail to fully reproduce human intelligence. No computer, no matter how big, how powerful, and how well-programmed will go from “foresight,” to “physic” to “prunes” to “servant leadership” to “preemption” to “politics” to “parables” without getting lost or blowing a fuse.
Here is a relevant poem to finish up:
PLUMBING
PSALM
New
Every morning
Is the joy of
A fast running
drain.
Selah!
JS-8/74-021
2/21/2004
Among The Hallows
Blog #30
A Poem
Thomas Howard, in his book, “Hallowed Be This House,” says, “Ordinariness, in a word, opens out into mystery, and the thing that men are supposed to do with mystery is to hallow it, for it all belongs to the Holy One.” (This fine little book was out of print, then reprinted under the title of “The Splendor of the Ordinary.)
Reading Howard’s book and the terminal illness of a dear friend got me thinking and this poem was the result.
AMONG THE HALLOWS
Beyond the veil of ordinary things,
The door, the room, the meal, the work, the play,
There press in on every side…
Mighty Mysteries, Ineffable Immensities,
Heavenly Places, Spiritual Forces,
Rulers, Powers, Princes, Glorious Habitations
Incandescent Vistas, Consuming Fires, Unbearable Splendors,
Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangels, Angels,
Eternity Incomprehensible,
Unapproachable Light,
Shekinah,
Glory,
The sounds of…
Celestial Dancing
Myriad Hallelujahs
Trumpets
Flutes
Timbrels
Lyres
Harps
Bagpipes
Tambourines
Cymbals
Silent Thunder,
Echoes of…
Camelot
Narnia
Perelandra
Middle Earth.
We walk among the hallows
In the presence of the unseen
That would ravish and terrify us
Were the veil stripped away.
We are the poorer for our eyes
That often seeing, do not see,
Our ears that often hearing, do not hear,
Our hearts that all too often stop
On the surface of
The ordinary things.
12/02
JS
“Faith is the assurance that the best and holiest dream is true after all.”
Frederick Buechner, “The Sacred Journey”
A Poem
Thomas Howard, in his book, “Hallowed Be This House,” says, “Ordinariness, in a word, opens out into mystery, and the thing that men are supposed to do with mystery is to hallow it, for it all belongs to the Holy One.” (This fine little book was out of print, then reprinted under the title of “The Splendor of the Ordinary.)
Reading Howard’s book and the terminal illness of a dear friend got me thinking and this poem was the result.
AMONG THE HALLOWS
Beyond the veil of ordinary things,
The door, the room, the meal, the work, the play,
There press in on every side…
Mighty Mysteries, Ineffable Immensities,
Heavenly Places, Spiritual Forces,
Rulers, Powers, Princes, Glorious Habitations
Incandescent Vistas, Consuming Fires, Unbearable Splendors,
Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangels, Angels,
Eternity Incomprehensible,
Unapproachable Light,
Shekinah,
Glory,
The sounds of…
Celestial Dancing
Myriad Hallelujahs
Trumpets
Flutes
Timbrels
Lyres
Harps
Bagpipes
Tambourines
Cymbals
Silent Thunder,
Echoes of…
Camelot
Narnia
Perelandra
Middle Earth.
We walk among the hallows
In the presence of the unseen
That would ravish and terrify us
Were the veil stripped away.
We are the poorer for our eyes
That often seeing, do not see,
Our ears that often hearing, do not hear,
Our hearts that all too often stop
On the surface of
The ordinary things.
12/02
JS
“Faith is the assurance that the best and holiest dream is true after all.”
Frederick Buechner, “The Sacred Journey”
2/15/2004
Our Lady of the Senior Center
#29 Our Lady of the Senior Center
My wife has always had a slightly heavy foot on the accelerator. She doesn’t like to be “passed up” by other cars and trucks. She usually wants to be right in there, whatever the speed limit signs say. She calls it “moving with the traffic.”
Once or twice she has found herself moving with the traffic when there was no traffic around. Once, when this got her a ticket, she found herself doing some community service in the local Senior Center. Her particular job was helping serve lunch in the six-day a week program for the old folks.
A lot of good things happen in these centers. In our present fractured, highly individualistic culture, the senior center does some of what the extended family used to do for those who are getting old. This is a place where people who are alone can go and find something to do and someone to do it with. These centers are normally a part of the local government.
The people who staff the senior center, and the volunteers who help out are mostly kind, compassionate, caring people. They meet many needs in the community and usually do it for low pay and with little recognition. But to the people downtown, the senior center is often little more than a necessary evil, a line item on the budget.
This poem was written about one of the bureaucrats who had responsibility for the center where my wife served her time.
OUR LADY OF THE
SENIOR CENTER
Lean, hard face,
Unsmiling eyes,
Blood red nails, razor sharp.
Clothes all match,
Straight hair swings grim purpose
With each step.
“The Boss”,
“City Hall” come
In the flesh--
“They” incarnate,
Busy, busy
Things to do,
Papers to sign,
No time for
Frail hand, beseeching eye,
Soft plea...
Takes her living
From the hunger of their years--
Passes through them,
A bitter wind
Through leafless trees--
Loved them on
The sterile page--
Geriatrics One-O-One was fine,
Ralph Parker, one-on-one
A sour possibility
To be avoided at all costs.
See her with smart friends,
Witty over quiche and Colombard:
What will she say when
She meets the grizzled God?
6/88
058
God bless all those who give and take in the senior centers across the land. God forgive the bureaucrats who despise the “least of these” who gather there every day.
My wife has always had a slightly heavy foot on the accelerator. She doesn’t like to be “passed up” by other cars and trucks. She usually wants to be right in there, whatever the speed limit signs say. She calls it “moving with the traffic.”
Once or twice she has found herself moving with the traffic when there was no traffic around. Once, when this got her a ticket, she found herself doing some community service in the local Senior Center. Her particular job was helping serve lunch in the six-day a week program for the old folks.
A lot of good things happen in these centers. In our present fractured, highly individualistic culture, the senior center does some of what the extended family used to do for those who are getting old. This is a place where people who are alone can go and find something to do and someone to do it with. These centers are normally a part of the local government.
The people who staff the senior center, and the volunteers who help out are mostly kind, compassionate, caring people. They meet many needs in the community and usually do it for low pay and with little recognition. But to the people downtown, the senior center is often little more than a necessary evil, a line item on the budget.
This poem was written about one of the bureaucrats who had responsibility for the center where my wife served her time.
OUR LADY OF THE
SENIOR CENTER
Lean, hard face,
Unsmiling eyes,
Blood red nails, razor sharp.
Clothes all match,
Straight hair swings grim purpose
With each step.
“The Boss”,
“City Hall” come
In the flesh--
“They” incarnate,
Busy, busy
Things to do,
Papers to sign,
No time for
Frail hand, beseeching eye,
Soft plea...
Takes her living
From the hunger of their years--
Passes through them,
A bitter wind
Through leafless trees--
Loved them on
The sterile page--
Geriatrics One-O-One was fine,
Ralph Parker, one-on-one
A sour possibility
To be avoided at all costs.
See her with smart friends,
Witty over quiche and Colombard:
What will she say when
She meets the grizzled God?
6/88
058
God bless all those who give and take in the senior centers across the land. God forgive the bureaucrats who despise the “least of these” who gather there every day.
2/13/2004
February Haiku
#28
February Haiku
LONG LOVE
Vintage stuff, our love,
Fine bouquet and lazy legs.
Glasses raised, we smile.
JS
2.2004
February Haiku
LONG LOVE
Vintage stuff, our love,
Fine bouquet and lazy legs.
Glasses raised, we smile.
JS
2.2004
2/08/2004
Jabez II - Secrets of the Vine
#27
Jabez II, Secrets of the Vine
A letter:
Summer, 2001
Dear Brother,
As I said when you came by, I am probably the last one to give an objective evaluation of the next book in line after “The Prayer of Jabez.” But thank you for the book (Secrets of the Vine). I have read it and will tell you what I think.
Comparing the two books from the outside, and knowing something of the Christian Book business, I cannot help but imagine a phone conversation that probably took place sometime soon after the first printing of “Jabez” sold out.
Multnomah Publishers: Hey Bruce, now that Jabez is going great guns, we need to start talking about the next book in the Breakthrough Series.
Bruce Wilkinson: Next book?
MP: You know, the one we talked about doing if the first one was successful.
BW: I guess I’ve been too busy being astonished by the size of my royalty checks to think about another book. I’m not sure I have one in me right now. I’m a busy man, you know.
MP: Sure you have one in you – remember those old sermon tapes you sent us on the vine in John 15?
BW: I remember, but I don’t have time to do another book. I’m a really busy man, you know.
MP: No problem, Bruce. Dave Kopp learned so much working with you on “Jabez” that he has gone ahead and written the second book using the material from your tapes. His wife Heather has helped out with the editing and the project is ready for your approval – shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at the most.
BW: I would really like to write my own books, you know.
MP: No sweat baby, this book is you all the way. You will have to mention Dave and Heather on the inside, but your name will be on the cover. You have already seen the cover design. It is Jabez all over again, in a pleasing green with some purple touches to go with vines and grapes.
BW: You’re sure this will sell even if I really haven’t really written it?
MP: Of course it will. It looks just like “The Prayer of Jabez,” which is already a winning design – solid, small, simple and affordable. With your name and “Author of best-selling PRAYER OF JABEZ” on the cover, it will go like hotcakes. What Dave and Heather have put together is good, but we could reprint an old John R. Rice sermon inside and still sell a million copies hands down.
DW: Well…I don’t know…I do have some new thoughts…maybe there is room to sneak them in.
MP: The galleys are in the mail. You should have them by 10:00 tomorrow morning. We are holding the presses for your approval. Look it over. If you have any changes, keep them simple. We need your go-ahead by tomorrow afternoon if we are to keep on schedule. And we have to keep to the schedule – we’re on the cusp of the Jabez wave and we have to roll while the rolling is good.
This imagined conversation might be wrong in some of its details. Sometimes knowing too much enables one to make assumptions that may be unfair or misguided, but I went through one of these with an author who worked for me once and I would lay heavy odds it’s not too far off.
As for what is inside the package, I will just make a few observations.
--The content is good, solid, and down to earth. There is nothing here that jumps up and cries out for dissent (like the contention in “Jabez” that asking for things from God is the highest act of worship).
--Except for the clarification in verse 2 (“He lifts up” instead of “He takes away”), there is nothing new here to merit the “Secrets” in the title. I guess “Secrets sell” is the sanctified version of “Sex sells.” But the clarification is very helpful – I have not seen it before in the commentaries I have on John’s gospel.
--In order to keep things simple enough for fifth grade level readers and first grade level attention spans, the writer tends to oversimplify. For example, he says, “fruit represents good works—a thought, attitude or action of ours that God values because it glorifies him.”(p.21) A better definition of good works would be “A good work is any act of obedience to the commands of God.” Leaving obedience out of the definition betrays the author’s basic presupposition of why Jesus used the vine to talk to his disciples. This book gives the impression that it was all about baskets of fruit and the struggle from empty to overflowing on the “fruit-basket-fullness meter.” Obedience does not come up until page 112, and then he paraphrases it down to “going Jesus’ way, not my own way.”
--Discipline is another area of oversimplification. He defines discipline as God’s intervention in our failures and has a scale from “rebuke—chasten – scourge” to indicate the severity. God surely does all of those things at one time or another but there is a broader definition that says, “Discipline is systematic training and submission to authority, and it is the result of such training.” To be a disciple and under discipline is to be a learner in a learning process. Perhaps I am picking nits, but it seems to me the whole of the passage, John 15.1-11 has to do with discipline in this broader sense.
--It may be more nitpicking to observe that he sometimes seems to get the cart before the horse in order to fit things into his formula. His third secret (p.96) is “If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite you to abide more deeply with Him.” It seems to me that Jesus is saying here that the fruit is the product of the abiding, not that the fruit somehow produces a deeper abiding. Earlier (p.60) Wilkinson asks, “Are you praying for God’s superabundant blessings and pleading that He will make you more like His Son?” What comes first -- the superabundant blessings or conformity to Jesus? More important, what are we “seeking first,” the blessings or the conformity? This seems to be an underlying assumption in both of these books – that there is a an easy way to “please myself indeed” while pleasing God in the process, or at least not displeasing Him overmuch.
--Perhaps Jesus’ main concern here was not fruit but abiding. The word abide occurs 10 times in this passage. In 14.20 He says, “I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” To abide in him is live in Him, to make our home in Him. And the secret is not a preoccupation with the “fruit-basket-fullness meter,” but with the Savior. The secret of abiding in Jesus is simple to state, difficult to practice – “if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love” 15.10. He has said it before, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 14.15. To be discipled is to be systematically trained to hear what God has commanded and to obey what is heard.
--In the end he finally does get to the real point, abiding in Christ. He just goes the long, hard way around to get there. For me, the key sentence in the book is near the bottom of page 93, “God didn’t want me TO DO MORE FOR him, He wanted me TO BE MORE WITH Him.” When I came to this all kinds of bells and sirens went off. I wonder if he realizes what he is really saying here in the first few pages of Chapter 7? What I hear is this; “I have been praying the Jabez prayer for years and God has answered it again and again and in the end it has brought me to the edge of burnout, with utter leanness in my soul (Ps. 106.15)." If he realizes the import of what he says here and believes it, the first book ought to be recalled, like faulty tires or a deadly car seat.
As I said, I am probably not the one to ask for an opinion. But you did and this is the best I can do. I hope it may be helpful.
Jerry
Today, Wilkinson is off in Africa, making movies and apparently back into the DO MORE FOR HIM mode – maybe more acceptable now because he is paying for that doing out of his own pocket. Someone at Multnomah has probably already written another book or two about it. If they have, I have probably missed them since I avoid “Prayer of Jabez” look-a-like books--there are a bunch of them, uniformly superficial and mostly useless.
Jabez II, Secrets of the Vine
A letter:
Summer, 2001
Dear Brother,
As I said when you came by, I am probably the last one to give an objective evaluation of the next book in line after “The Prayer of Jabez.” But thank you for the book (Secrets of the Vine). I have read it and will tell you what I think.
Comparing the two books from the outside, and knowing something of the Christian Book business, I cannot help but imagine a phone conversation that probably took place sometime soon after the first printing of “Jabez” sold out.
Multnomah Publishers: Hey Bruce, now that Jabez is going great guns, we need to start talking about the next book in the Breakthrough Series.
Bruce Wilkinson: Next book?
MP: You know, the one we talked about doing if the first one was successful.
BW: I guess I’ve been too busy being astonished by the size of my royalty checks to think about another book. I’m not sure I have one in me right now. I’m a busy man, you know.
MP: Sure you have one in you – remember those old sermon tapes you sent us on the vine in John 15?
BW: I remember, but I don’t have time to do another book. I’m a really busy man, you know.
MP: No problem, Bruce. Dave Kopp learned so much working with you on “Jabez” that he has gone ahead and written the second book using the material from your tapes. His wife Heather has helped out with the editing and the project is ready for your approval – shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at the most.
BW: I would really like to write my own books, you know.
MP: No sweat baby, this book is you all the way. You will have to mention Dave and Heather on the inside, but your name will be on the cover. You have already seen the cover design. It is Jabez all over again, in a pleasing green with some purple touches to go with vines and grapes.
BW: You’re sure this will sell even if I really haven’t really written it?
MP: Of course it will. It looks just like “The Prayer of Jabez,” which is already a winning design – solid, small, simple and affordable. With your name and “Author of best-selling PRAYER OF JABEZ” on the cover, it will go like hotcakes. What Dave and Heather have put together is good, but we could reprint an old John R. Rice sermon inside and still sell a million copies hands down.
DW: Well…I don’t know…I do have some new thoughts…maybe there is room to sneak them in.
MP: The galleys are in the mail. You should have them by 10:00 tomorrow morning. We are holding the presses for your approval. Look it over. If you have any changes, keep them simple. We need your go-ahead by tomorrow afternoon if we are to keep on schedule. And we have to keep to the schedule – we’re on the cusp of the Jabez wave and we have to roll while the rolling is good.
This imagined conversation might be wrong in some of its details. Sometimes knowing too much enables one to make assumptions that may be unfair or misguided, but I went through one of these with an author who worked for me once and I would lay heavy odds it’s not too far off.
As for what is inside the package, I will just make a few observations.
--The content is good, solid, and down to earth. There is nothing here that jumps up and cries out for dissent (like the contention in “Jabez” that asking for things from God is the highest act of worship).
--Except for the clarification in verse 2 (“He lifts up” instead of “He takes away”), there is nothing new here to merit the “Secrets” in the title. I guess “Secrets sell” is the sanctified version of “Sex sells.” But the clarification is very helpful – I have not seen it before in the commentaries I have on John’s gospel.
--In order to keep things simple enough for fifth grade level readers and first grade level attention spans, the writer tends to oversimplify. For example, he says, “fruit represents good works—a thought, attitude or action of ours that God values because it glorifies him.”(p.21) A better definition of good works would be “A good work is any act of obedience to the commands of God.” Leaving obedience out of the definition betrays the author’s basic presupposition of why Jesus used the vine to talk to his disciples. This book gives the impression that it was all about baskets of fruit and the struggle from empty to overflowing on the “fruit-basket-fullness meter.” Obedience does not come up until page 112, and then he paraphrases it down to “going Jesus’ way, not my own way.”
--Discipline is another area of oversimplification. He defines discipline as God’s intervention in our failures and has a scale from “rebuke—chasten – scourge” to indicate the severity. God surely does all of those things at one time or another but there is a broader definition that says, “Discipline is systematic training and submission to authority, and it is the result of such training.” To be a disciple and under discipline is to be a learner in a learning process. Perhaps I am picking nits, but it seems to me the whole of the passage, John 15.1-11 has to do with discipline in this broader sense.
--It may be more nitpicking to observe that he sometimes seems to get the cart before the horse in order to fit things into his formula. His third secret (p.96) is “If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite you to abide more deeply with Him.” It seems to me that Jesus is saying here that the fruit is the product of the abiding, not that the fruit somehow produces a deeper abiding. Earlier (p.60) Wilkinson asks, “Are you praying for God’s superabundant blessings and pleading that He will make you more like His Son?” What comes first -- the superabundant blessings or conformity to Jesus? More important, what are we “seeking first,” the blessings or the conformity? This seems to be an underlying assumption in both of these books – that there is a an easy way to “please myself indeed” while pleasing God in the process, or at least not displeasing Him overmuch.
--Perhaps Jesus’ main concern here was not fruit but abiding. The word abide occurs 10 times in this passage. In 14.20 He says, “I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” To abide in him is live in Him, to make our home in Him. And the secret is not a preoccupation with the “fruit-basket-fullness meter,” but with the Savior. The secret of abiding in Jesus is simple to state, difficult to practice – “if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love” 15.10. He has said it before, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 14.15. To be discipled is to be systematically trained to hear what God has commanded and to obey what is heard.
--In the end he finally does get to the real point, abiding in Christ. He just goes the long, hard way around to get there. For me, the key sentence in the book is near the bottom of page 93, “God didn’t want me TO DO MORE FOR him, He wanted me TO BE MORE WITH Him.” When I came to this all kinds of bells and sirens went off. I wonder if he realizes what he is really saying here in the first few pages of Chapter 7? What I hear is this; “I have been praying the Jabez prayer for years and God has answered it again and again and in the end it has brought me to the edge of burnout, with utter leanness in my soul (Ps. 106.15)." If he realizes the import of what he says here and believes it, the first book ought to be recalled, like faulty tires or a deadly car seat.
As I said, I am probably not the one to ask for an opinion. But you did and this is the best I can do. I hope it may be helpful.
Jerry
Today, Wilkinson is off in Africa, making movies and apparently back into the DO MORE FOR HIM mode – maybe more acceptable now because he is paying for that doing out of his own pocket. Someone at Multnomah has probably already written another book or two about it. If they have, I have probably missed them since I avoid “Prayer of Jabez” look-a-like books--there are a bunch of them, uniformly superficial and mostly useless.
2/02/2004
Jabez I
January 16, 2004
#26 Jabez I
In the Spring of 2001, I responded to a friend’s question about the little book, “The Prayer of Jabez.” I updated that response in December of that year. Now, two years and eight months later my curmudgeonly outburst seems not only justified, but also a little prophetic. This book has sold over 9,000,000 copies. A google search turns up 244,000 hits. About the only people who haven’t tried to profit from the Jabez craze are the condom manufacturers. Bruce Wilkinson has become rich and Multnomah Publishers has become famous (and vice versa as well).
December 2001
Some Thoughts On A Possible Alternative Interpretation of the Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4.10) Is this really the new prayer paradigm for 21st century Christendom? Is God really our cosmic bellhop?
“The Prayer of Jabez – Breaking through to the blessed life”
-Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson, Multnomah Publishers, 2001
-Little book, big sales: 3,000,000+ the first year
-Versions for children, teens, women in the works
-A journal, a Bible study and a video in the works
-A Website is up – prayerofjabez.com
-Study Groups popping up everywhere
-“Living the Jabez Miracle,” a daily devotional book is out
- “Prayer of Jabez” Worship CD is available
-The second book of the series, “The Secrets of the Vine,” is out (Lexington Herald-Leader review, 4.21.01)
The Scripture
“Now Jabez had more honor than his brothers; his mother had named him Jabez saying, I have born him in pain. But Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, May you indeed bless me, enlarge my territory, let your hand be with me and prevent evil from hurting me. And God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicles 4.9-10, The Anchor Bible)
“In an age when the curse of a name could, in popular views, only be offset by the magical application of another name (cf. Gen. 35.18), the Chronicler shows that sincere prayer could even be more effective. Admittedly the prayer was an immature one, for Jabez asked to be spared pain at the expense of the suffering people whom he would replace.” (The Broadman Bible Commentary)
In his little book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” Bruce Wilkinson says, “If seeking God’s blessings is our ultimate act of worship, and asking to do more for Him is our utmost ambition, then asking for God’s hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things God has begun in our lives.” Page 49
It is clear from reading the book that the “if” above is rhetorical. The author believes that asking for God’s blessings is the ultimate act of worship (see page 24 also:” When we seek God’s blessing as the ultimate value in life…”). I am not so sure about the priorities expressed here.
Some months back one of the Elders of our fellowship came across this little book. He thought it was great and gave copies to the other Elders. One agreed with him, more or less, two had their doubts, and I had stronger reservations. We discussed it, thought about it, prayed about it, and decided to not make a big thing of the “Prayer of Jabez” in the fellowship.
My thinking did not stop there. As I often do when something troubles me, I ended up writing a poem about it:
Jabez' Prayer
1 Chronicles 4.10
While walking through the Bible
And wondering what comes next,
Good brother Bruce was taken
With a wondrous simple text.
Buried in a list of names,
The sons of Judah old,
He found a simple farmer
And his prayer both brave and bold.
Ole Jabez called upon the God
Of Israel in this way:
"Bless me indeed in all my need,
And enlarge the size of my land,
In all that I do give me great gains,
And save me from all of
Life's most hurtful pains."
Things must have been slow in heaven that day
For God granted his every request.
As far as we know Ole Jabez became
A farmer of fame with a prominent name
Whose family had all the best.
Brother Bruce put Ole Jabez
Down in a cute little book.
And all at once Ole Jabez
Is everywhere you look.
Like Old Nick, he is ubiquitous,
His prayer's on every lip -
It almost seems iniquitous,
An "all-out Jabez trip."
Listen to all Christendom
Chant the Jabez' prayer -
Then go seeking money
Dropped in the parking lot,
Or to their favorite broker
In case the market's hot.
To pray the prayer of Jabez
Until you're out of breath,
Has the sticky feel of magic
And the sour smell of death.
Having written this, I considered further. If this poem is to see the light of day, perhaps I should reread the book and reconsider my reactions to it and be able to give a reason for my opinions of it. So here is my thinking.
MAY YOU BLESS ME INDEED.
Why was it that “Jabez had more honor than his brothers”? Could it have been that he prayed to the God of Israel in a time when the norm was religious apostasy, moral corruption and military defeat? It was during the days of the Judges. They were in the Promised Land, but things were far from promising. “There was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21.25) They worshipped the Baals and the Ashtaroths, married Canaanite women and were defeated and exploited by their pagan neighbors. Inspired Leader/Judges periodically rescued them, but they only prayed when “in extremis” and fell back into their old ways whenever they were delivered. Is it possible that the “fact” of his prayer was the source of his honor rather than the “content” of that prayer? Is there some sense here of the old saying, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” ?
“To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.” (The Prayer of Jabez, page 23) This is true in a general sense but according to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, “To bless in the OT means ‘To endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity (many children), longevity (many years), etc. It is often contrasted with ‘qalal,’ to esteem lightly, to curse.’”
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, was the order in the prayer accidental or did it say something about priorities? The model prayer began with HIS Name, HIS Kingdom and HIS will. Then came our bread, our debts and our temptations. To put my blessings at the head of this list seems questionable at best. Matthew 6.9-15
This sense of priority seemed to be reemphasized soon after when he told them to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things (other things, blessings) will be added unto you.” Seeking His Kingdom has more to do with obedience than with blessing. Seeking first and obedience will normally issue in blessing, but the kingdom seeking is prior to, not a product of the blessings. Matthew 6.33
There are plenty of scriptures exhorting us to “ask, seek, knock” but it is hard to see a case in any of them for making the asking for something “for me” the highest priority and greatest ambition of my life.
ENLARGE MY TERRITORY.
It would be a fair bet to say that the territory surrounding Jabez’ land belonged to fellow Israelites. In due time some of these neighbors would get into trouble and lose their land. If Jabez were hardworking and thrifty, he would be ready to pick up that land for a modest investment. God knew this was human nature and so provided for the return of the land to its original owners in the 50th or Jubilee year (Lev.25). One might say that Jabez was praying in the spirit of the Covenant that promised to reward hard work, diligence, and obedience but that the content of his prayer was contrary to the spirit of the covenant. In Jabez’ time and place, the enlargement of territory was a zero sum game – one would win at the expense of another (See Nehemiah 5 and the Prophecy of Amos for examples of Israelites growing wealthy at the expense of their brothers). And there is no record that they ever obeyed the Jubilee Year requirement of the Law.
LET YOUR HAND BE WITH ME.
In other words: “If I am going to be a big man in Israel, I am going to need your help, God. If I am going to begin accumulating land at the expense of my neighbors and brothers, I am going to need the big stick of your intervention to be sure things go well.”
PREVENT EVIL FROM HURTING ME.
In other words: “All these things happening, I am going to make some enemies – both in Israel and among the pagans around me. I will need your protection and power to shield me from the possible negative consequences of my success. I will need you to watch my back, Lord, for I will be moving fast in the midst of those who will envy me and resent my success.”
GOD GRANTED HIM WHAT HE REQUESTED.
The fact that God answers a request is not “prima facie” evidence of Divine approval. For example:
“They only cared about pleasing themselves in that desert,
Provoked God with their insistent demands.
He gave them exactly what they asked for—
But along with it they got an empty heart.”
(Psalm 106.15, E.H Peterson Paraphrase)
But it was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel…”they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me to be King over them…you shall solemnly warn them”…the people refused to listen…and said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we may be also like all the nations…” The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” (1 Samuel 8)
We hear the end of the matter with Job, with Jonah, and others, but we hear nothing more of Jabez. Had the outcome of this little affair been positive, it seems we might have some record of it. At least, given the context and the possibility of this alternate interpretation, it seems a stretch to just assume a positive result.
CONCLUSION
So where does that leave us? Is the prayer of Jabez a new pearl of great price for which Christendom should sell all that it has to acquire in order to set it in the highest place of honor in the crown of orthodoxy? Or is the great enthusiasm for the prayer of Jabez only fool’s gold sowed by the deceiver to shift the focus of the people of God from Him, to ME, from His to MINE, from giving Him the glory due his Name to GETTING GLORY DUE MY NAME (in order to give it to Him, of course)?
Or is this verse simply the O.T. equivalent of James 5.16, “A good man’s prayer is powerful and effective”?
I have to come down on the side of fool’s gold. Here are my reasons:
The alternative view above is more consistent with the context in which the prayer is found and was prayed. It was not a bad prayer, Jabez was not a bad man, but the man and his prayer are not sufficient to support a massive shift from the normal Christian life to a total daily focus on the prayer and the new book, which cannot, in any sense, be added to the Canon. What was probably intended to remind the people of the covenant that the prayers of a righteous man are heard and answered has been turned into a Christian Mantra.
Even if the Jabez phenomenon started well, Christian marketing has taken it over. Once this happens, it is very difficult to draw a clear line between Christian marketing and Mammon. The very success of the venture suggests that the Deceiver has co-opted whatever truth is there and begun to turn it into something he can use to deceive the saints.
Daily recitation of the Jabez mantra and daily contemplation of the famous little book may be helpful, even redemptive for some people at some times, but as the “summum bonum” of the normal Christian life it is too close for comfort to the self-indulgent siren song of our post-Christian culture. It has the ring of the mantras of eastern mysticism and even the formulas of the modern witches. You need not look far to find Christian leaders who started out to “do something great for God,” achieved power, authority, and influence, but ended up in defeat and disgrace because they loved the power and the glory too much to give it back to the Giver.
Perhaps it is an over-simplification, but it seems we can look at Jabez in two very different ways:
1. He was a rustic herdsman farmer who wanted more of everything: more land, more animals, more power and authority…and he wanted God to help him get them, keep them and protect him from the downside of his success.
2. He was a pattern and a prototype put into the Chronicler’s genealogies by God for such a time as this – a pattern for the victorious Christian life, a man to emulated and held up as the embodiment of the highest good for believers in the 21st century.
Probably the truth is somewhere in between, but the ends of the continuum need to be seen clearly if we are to think about what God may be thinking as he views the Jabez phenomenon. Does God look down on his people as Jesus saw the crowds in Palestine when He said to them, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (John 4.48) Is it God’s desire for His people to live from day to day in the single-minded pursuit of new miracles and wonders, all of them to bless “ME”?
Or is it possible that the prayer God wishes to hear from his people is more like the prayer of Agur? “Two things I asked of You, do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.” Proverbs 30.7-9
#26 Jabez I
In the Spring of 2001, I responded to a friend’s question about the little book, “The Prayer of Jabez.” I updated that response in December of that year. Now, two years and eight months later my curmudgeonly outburst seems not only justified, but also a little prophetic. This book has sold over 9,000,000 copies. A google search turns up 244,000 hits. About the only people who haven’t tried to profit from the Jabez craze are the condom manufacturers. Bruce Wilkinson has become rich and Multnomah Publishers has become famous (and vice versa as well).
December 2001
Some Thoughts On A Possible Alternative Interpretation of the Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4.10) Is this really the new prayer paradigm for 21st century Christendom? Is God really our cosmic bellhop?
“The Prayer of Jabez – Breaking through to the blessed life”
-Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson, Multnomah Publishers, 2001
-Little book, big sales: 3,000,000+ the first year
-Versions for children, teens, women in the works
-A journal, a Bible study and a video in the works
-A Website is up – prayerofjabez.com
-Study Groups popping up everywhere
-“Living the Jabez Miracle,” a daily devotional book is out
- “Prayer of Jabez” Worship CD is available
-The second book of the series, “The Secrets of the Vine,” is out (Lexington Herald-Leader review, 4.21.01)
The Scripture
“Now Jabez had more honor than his brothers; his mother had named him Jabez saying, I have born him in pain. But Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, May you indeed bless me, enlarge my territory, let your hand be with me and prevent evil from hurting me. And God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicles 4.9-10, The Anchor Bible)
“In an age when the curse of a name could, in popular views, only be offset by the magical application of another name (cf. Gen. 35.18), the Chronicler shows that sincere prayer could even be more effective. Admittedly the prayer was an immature one, for Jabez asked to be spared pain at the expense of the suffering people whom he would replace.” (The Broadman Bible Commentary)
In his little book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” Bruce Wilkinson says, “If seeking God’s blessings is our ultimate act of worship, and asking to do more for Him is our utmost ambition, then asking for God’s hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things God has begun in our lives.” Page 49
It is clear from reading the book that the “if” above is rhetorical. The author believes that asking for God’s blessings is the ultimate act of worship (see page 24 also:” When we seek God’s blessing as the ultimate value in life…”). I am not so sure about the priorities expressed here.
Some months back one of the Elders of our fellowship came across this little book. He thought it was great and gave copies to the other Elders. One agreed with him, more or less, two had their doubts, and I had stronger reservations. We discussed it, thought about it, prayed about it, and decided to not make a big thing of the “Prayer of Jabez” in the fellowship.
My thinking did not stop there. As I often do when something troubles me, I ended up writing a poem about it:
Jabez' Prayer
1 Chronicles 4.10
While walking through the Bible
And wondering what comes next,
Good brother Bruce was taken
With a wondrous simple text.
Buried in a list of names,
The sons of Judah old,
He found a simple farmer
And his prayer both brave and bold.
Ole Jabez called upon the God
Of Israel in this way:
"Bless me indeed in all my need,
And enlarge the size of my land,
In all that I do give me great gains,
And save me from all of
Life's most hurtful pains."
Things must have been slow in heaven that day
For God granted his every request.
As far as we know Ole Jabez became
A farmer of fame with a prominent name
Whose family had all the best.
Brother Bruce put Ole Jabez
Down in a cute little book.
And all at once Ole Jabez
Is everywhere you look.
Like Old Nick, he is ubiquitous,
His prayer's on every lip -
It almost seems iniquitous,
An "all-out Jabez trip."
Listen to all Christendom
Chant the Jabez' prayer -
Then go seeking money
Dropped in the parking lot,
Or to their favorite broker
In case the market's hot.
To pray the prayer of Jabez
Until you're out of breath,
Has the sticky feel of magic
And the sour smell of death.
Having written this, I considered further. If this poem is to see the light of day, perhaps I should reread the book and reconsider my reactions to it and be able to give a reason for my opinions of it. So here is my thinking.
MAY YOU BLESS ME INDEED.
Why was it that “Jabez had more honor than his brothers”? Could it have been that he prayed to the God of Israel in a time when the norm was religious apostasy, moral corruption and military defeat? It was during the days of the Judges. They were in the Promised Land, but things were far from promising. “There was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21.25) They worshipped the Baals and the Ashtaroths, married Canaanite women and were defeated and exploited by their pagan neighbors. Inspired Leader/Judges periodically rescued them, but they only prayed when “in extremis” and fell back into their old ways whenever they were delivered. Is it possible that the “fact” of his prayer was the source of his honor rather than the “content” of that prayer? Is there some sense here of the old saying, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” ?
“To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.” (The Prayer of Jabez, page 23) This is true in a general sense but according to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, “To bless in the OT means ‘To endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity (many children), longevity (many years), etc. It is often contrasted with ‘qalal,’ to esteem lightly, to curse.’”
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, was the order in the prayer accidental or did it say something about priorities? The model prayer began with HIS Name, HIS Kingdom and HIS will. Then came our bread, our debts and our temptations. To put my blessings at the head of this list seems questionable at best. Matthew 6.9-15
This sense of priority seemed to be reemphasized soon after when he told them to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things (other things, blessings) will be added unto you.” Seeking His Kingdom has more to do with obedience than with blessing. Seeking first and obedience will normally issue in blessing, but the kingdom seeking is prior to, not a product of the blessings. Matthew 6.33
There are plenty of scriptures exhorting us to “ask, seek, knock” but it is hard to see a case in any of them for making the asking for something “for me” the highest priority and greatest ambition of my life.
ENLARGE MY TERRITORY.
It would be a fair bet to say that the territory surrounding Jabez’ land belonged to fellow Israelites. In due time some of these neighbors would get into trouble and lose their land. If Jabez were hardworking and thrifty, he would be ready to pick up that land for a modest investment. God knew this was human nature and so provided for the return of the land to its original owners in the 50th or Jubilee year (Lev.25). One might say that Jabez was praying in the spirit of the Covenant that promised to reward hard work, diligence, and obedience but that the content of his prayer was contrary to the spirit of the covenant. In Jabez’ time and place, the enlargement of territory was a zero sum game – one would win at the expense of another (See Nehemiah 5 and the Prophecy of Amos for examples of Israelites growing wealthy at the expense of their brothers). And there is no record that they ever obeyed the Jubilee Year requirement of the Law.
LET YOUR HAND BE WITH ME.
In other words: “If I am going to be a big man in Israel, I am going to need your help, God. If I am going to begin accumulating land at the expense of my neighbors and brothers, I am going to need the big stick of your intervention to be sure things go well.”
PREVENT EVIL FROM HURTING ME.
In other words: “All these things happening, I am going to make some enemies – both in Israel and among the pagans around me. I will need your protection and power to shield me from the possible negative consequences of my success. I will need you to watch my back, Lord, for I will be moving fast in the midst of those who will envy me and resent my success.”
GOD GRANTED HIM WHAT HE REQUESTED.
The fact that God answers a request is not “prima facie” evidence of Divine approval. For example:
“They only cared about pleasing themselves in that desert,
Provoked God with their insistent demands.
He gave them exactly what they asked for—
But along with it they got an empty heart.”
(Psalm 106.15, E.H Peterson Paraphrase)
But it was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel…”they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me to be King over them…you shall solemnly warn them”…the people refused to listen…and said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we may be also like all the nations…” The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” (1 Samuel 8)
We hear the end of the matter with Job, with Jonah, and others, but we hear nothing more of Jabez. Had the outcome of this little affair been positive, it seems we might have some record of it. At least, given the context and the possibility of this alternate interpretation, it seems a stretch to just assume a positive result.
CONCLUSION
So where does that leave us? Is the prayer of Jabez a new pearl of great price for which Christendom should sell all that it has to acquire in order to set it in the highest place of honor in the crown of orthodoxy? Or is the great enthusiasm for the prayer of Jabez only fool’s gold sowed by the deceiver to shift the focus of the people of God from Him, to ME, from His to MINE, from giving Him the glory due his Name to GETTING GLORY DUE MY NAME (in order to give it to Him, of course)?
Or is this verse simply the O.T. equivalent of James 5.16, “A good man’s prayer is powerful and effective”?
I have to come down on the side of fool’s gold. Here are my reasons:
The alternative view above is more consistent with the context in which the prayer is found and was prayed. It was not a bad prayer, Jabez was not a bad man, but the man and his prayer are not sufficient to support a massive shift from the normal Christian life to a total daily focus on the prayer and the new book, which cannot, in any sense, be added to the Canon. What was probably intended to remind the people of the covenant that the prayers of a righteous man are heard and answered has been turned into a Christian Mantra.
Even if the Jabez phenomenon started well, Christian marketing has taken it over. Once this happens, it is very difficult to draw a clear line between Christian marketing and Mammon. The very success of the venture suggests that the Deceiver has co-opted whatever truth is there and begun to turn it into something he can use to deceive the saints.
Daily recitation of the Jabez mantra and daily contemplation of the famous little book may be helpful, even redemptive for some people at some times, but as the “summum bonum” of the normal Christian life it is too close for comfort to the self-indulgent siren song of our post-Christian culture. It has the ring of the mantras of eastern mysticism and even the formulas of the modern witches. You need not look far to find Christian leaders who started out to “do something great for God,” achieved power, authority, and influence, but ended up in defeat and disgrace because they loved the power and the glory too much to give it back to the Giver.
Perhaps it is an over-simplification, but it seems we can look at Jabez in two very different ways:
1. He was a rustic herdsman farmer who wanted more of everything: more land, more animals, more power and authority…and he wanted God to help him get them, keep them and protect him from the downside of his success.
2. He was a pattern and a prototype put into the Chronicler’s genealogies by God for such a time as this – a pattern for the victorious Christian life, a man to emulated and held up as the embodiment of the highest good for believers in the 21st century.
Probably the truth is somewhere in between, but the ends of the continuum need to be seen clearly if we are to think about what God may be thinking as he views the Jabez phenomenon. Does God look down on his people as Jesus saw the crowds in Palestine when He said to them, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (John 4.48) Is it God’s desire for His people to live from day to day in the single-minded pursuit of new miracles and wonders, all of them to bless “ME”?
Or is it possible that the prayer God wishes to hear from his people is more like the prayer of Agur? “Two things I asked of You, do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.” Proverbs 30.7-9
2/01/2004
Get them out of the media spotlight!
#25
Email to John Ed Pearce, Herald-Leader Contributing Columnist
Re: Get them out of the media spotlight
Once every five years or so I find myself agreeing with something you say. Today is one of those days. I too am sick and tired of turning on the news (although I don’t go to CNN to find it) and being buried with breathless “Breaking news” on Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson, and Martha Stewart. I read your whole article today for the first time in years because it is a good illustration of the fact that liberal humanists cannot live consistently with the ultimate implications of their non-Christian presuppositions.
These sorry examples of high-powered self-indulgence are the natural consequence of a worldview that makes man the measure of all things, that insists that feelings are knowledge, that opinions are truth, and that all sincerely held opinions are equal.
There is really no qualitative difference between these sorry creatures and your beloved and revered William Jefferson Clinton. Had his self-indulgent lusts not been somewhat constrained by political necessity and somewhat more constrained by his fear of his ambitious wife, he might well have been number five in the rogues gallery that is driving you up the wall.
God is there and He is not silent. Persons and societies that deny the existence of objective truth and do not admit any accountability beyond the autonomous individual, inevitably come to this kind of grief. The slaughtering of 40,000,000 innocent babies for convenience sake is one of the products of this worldview. The new law in New Jersey that allows the cloning of an embryo, the implanting of that embryo in a woman for money, and the harvesting of the baby at 8 months to be used as spare parts or in research is another product of this worldview.
If it were not tragic, it would be laughable to see the media elite view with alarm the end products of the worldview they are busy shoving down the viewer’s throats every day. In many ways the Republicans are little different from the Democrats. But at least the Republicans give lip service to a worldview that admits transcendence, absolutes, and Someone outside themselves to whom they are accountable.
Email to John Ed Pearce, Herald-Leader Contributing Columnist
Re: Get them out of the media spotlight
Once every five years or so I find myself agreeing with something you say. Today is one of those days. I too am sick and tired of turning on the news (although I don’t go to CNN to find it) and being buried with breathless “Breaking news” on Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson, and Martha Stewart. I read your whole article today for the first time in years because it is a good illustration of the fact that liberal humanists cannot live consistently with the ultimate implications of their non-Christian presuppositions.
These sorry examples of high-powered self-indulgence are the natural consequence of a worldview that makes man the measure of all things, that insists that feelings are knowledge, that opinions are truth, and that all sincerely held opinions are equal.
There is really no qualitative difference between these sorry creatures and your beloved and revered William Jefferson Clinton. Had his self-indulgent lusts not been somewhat constrained by political necessity and somewhat more constrained by his fear of his ambitious wife, he might well have been number five in the rogues gallery that is driving you up the wall.
God is there and He is not silent. Persons and societies that deny the existence of objective truth and do not admit any accountability beyond the autonomous individual, inevitably come to this kind of grief. The slaughtering of 40,000,000 innocent babies for convenience sake is one of the products of this worldview. The new law in New Jersey that allows the cloning of an embryo, the implanting of that embryo in a woman for money, and the harvesting of the baby at 8 months to be used as spare parts or in research is another product of this worldview.
If it were not tragic, it would be laughable to see the media elite view with alarm the end products of the worldview they are busy shoving down the viewer’s throats every day. In many ways the Republicans are little different from the Democrats. But at least the Republicans give lip service to a worldview that admits transcendence, absolutes, and Someone outside themselves to whom they are accountable.
