That I My Not Be Harmed

"That I My Not Be Harmed" – 1 Samuel 25:37-39 When Nabal had worn off the effects of the wine, when he comes to himself, his wife tells him of his great clumsiness and how near he had brought himself and his family to destruction by his rudeness. He fainted his heart (his heart died) in him, and he was left as stone. He was terrified, more than ashamed of his foolishness. About ten days later "well to come out of the terror" that Jehovah had entered him, struck Nabal and died.

I. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10) The reason for his name (Jabez = sorrowful, sadness).

A. His mother gave it to him for "having given birth to him in pain", in his name.

1. That pain marks Jabez's life.

2. The pain marks his mother who will remember with gratitude that God had preserved her life, after going through a difficult birth.

3. The reason: so that Jabez would learn to "love and honor his mother."

4. He strives to be a comfort to the one who had brought him into this world "with so much pain."

5. The goodness of his character... "And you will deliver me from evil so that I will not harm me!"

6. Nabal was damaged and then God stopped him, God put restrictions on him (imposed limit, instead of giving less).

7. He shows Jabez his character especially in his piety as a praying man.

8. He uttered the prayer here mentioned as he was preparing for the undertakings of his life.

9. May God deliver him from all harm.

10. He simply remembered his own name: Jabez = given birth in pain.

11. (Psalm 19:13) Preserve your servant.

12. David does not say clean, "but preserves" (protects, cares for, shelters or defends something in advance, with the aim of avoiding eventual deterioration), as happened to Nabal.

13. We must love restrictions; They teach us that there are limits (roadside or border; division that marks a separation between two territories).

14. Of the sins of presumption is the inordinate appetite to be preferred to others, haughtiness, conceit.

15. Let him not lord it over me as Jabez said; you will deliver evil, "that it may not harm me" (1 Chronicles 4:10).

16. "I will be upright and cleansed from great rebellion." (1 Psalm 19:13). "And if Thy hand were with me, and Thou wouldst deliver me from evil, that it might not harm me."

17. "I will be whole and clean, I will be free from a serious crime, rebellion."

18. (Psalm 141:3) "Keep my mouth, O Lord."

19. You know, brother, the tongue is the chief instrument in the cause of God; but it is also the central machine of the devil; give it to him and he will not ask for anything else. There is no evil that is not committed by her (tongue).

20. The danger of transgression (breaking or disobeying a norm, a rule) is in language without the conviction that it is in danger.

21. We are very much in the crowd with our neighbors, but we are too little in the upper room.

22. (Luke 11:4) Let's learn the restrictions (limits) in our speech, move, opine, and then say.

23. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

24. He does allow us to experience trials and difficulties in life and that all of it is arranged for our good.

25. We should be constantly aware of our own propensity (tendency, instinct) to wander and fall into sin.

26. (John 17:15) The Lord did not pray that the Father would remove believers from the world, from an immediate world.

27. They were to be left here to grow in God's grace and bear witness to Christ.

28. But Christ's prayer was that they would be kept from the "evil one."

29. It is not an escape, but perseverance (caring, defending in advance).

30. Jabez: "And if Thy hand be with me, and deliver me from evil, that it may not harm me!"

31. Restraints are needed, prayer so as not to fall into temptation. Amen