BOOK REVIEW
THE PRAYER OF JABEZ: BREAKING THROUGH TO THE BLESSED LIFE
By Bruce Wilkinson (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2000,
hardcover, 93 pages).
How many of us have ever heard of The Prayer of Jabez? Had we asked this
question a year or so ago most people would have answered with an embarrassed
shrug of ignorance. Bruce Wilkinson, however, the author of a popular
little book of the same title, has set out to rectify that situation and
he appears to be succeeding spectacularly.
In evangelical circles and beyond there are more and more people who could
now tell you a thing or two about this little-known fellow Jabez and his
off-overlooked prayer. Today Wilkinson's book is the talk of many, can
be found prominently displayed in most Christian bookstores (and many
of the mainstream ones too) and it is going like a house on fire. Both
Christians and non-Christians are now praying the prayer of Jabez and
claiming that God is doing miracles as a result.
Recently I was lent a copy of this book. This made me happy for two reasons.
First, because this would give me an opportunity to read the book and
see for myself what all the fuss is about. My second reason for happiness
came after having read the book. Having done so I am now happy I had never
shelled out any money for a copy.
The book is well written. The print is easy to read and sparsely spaced
over a mere 93 small pages. It can be read in one sitting. No doubt this
accounts for some of its popularity in our non-reading video age. Sadly
it says something too about the superficiality of much of the Christianity
of our day, when many of us appear content to learn our theology from
wall plaques, bumper stickers and armbands.
So who is this Jabez? Jabez, of course, is that man whose name is tucked
away in the middle of first Chronicles. So obscure is Jabez that we may
almost be excused for our ignorance. His name appears smack in the middle
of those first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles that set before us name after
name in genealogy after genealogy. These are the places in Scripture that
challenge our "read through the Bible" plans the most. Wilkinson
is definitely on to something significant when he notes that the brief
revelation that we are given concerning Jabez, his background, his honour
and his prayer in I Chronicles 4:9,10 virtually cries out for our attention.
As little as we are told about Jabez, it is far more than we are told
about any of the other names in context, and therefore it is evident that
by slowing down to give us this extra information about Jabez, the Holy
Spirit aims to call our attention to what He has had recorded for our
learning. Recognizing this, ministers have preached on this obscure text
throughout the years, perhaps particularly on our so-called Days of Prayer.
Certainly there is something to be learned about prayer from this passage.
Wilkinson goes wrong, however, when he virtually absolutizes the things
that are to be learned from this passage as though it carried in it the
secret to everything a person needs to know about prayer. As a result
Wilkinson becomes something of a crusader or marketer for this prayer
of Jabez. From the opening words of his preface to his concluding chapter,
Wilkinson makes the pitch for us to take these words of Jabez and make
them our own. Pray this prayer for thirty days and see what happens is
the risk free offer we are left with.
The "Jabez prayer" takes on a life of its own as Wilkinson invites
us to begin "praying Jabez" (p.16), and to expect to see results
in our lives that could only be called "the miracle of Jabez"
(p. 90). Followers of Wilkinson's teaching who take up his challenge to
do great things for God call their missions "Operation Jabez"
(p.35). While it may be acknowledged that in speaking this way Wilkinson
merely makes effective use of language in order to make his point memorable,
the problem is that in so doing he provides the next neat little gimmick
for a weak and anemic Christianity to latch on to. Prayer is hard, plain
and simple, and we still do not quite know how to pray as we ought (Romans
8:26). Wilkinson, however, tempts us to think that with the "discovery"
of this prayer, he has found the long lost formula for blessing. As a
result many today will jump from one frivolous fad to another as they
move from asking: "What would Jesus do?" to asking: "What
would Jabez do?"
Given the prominence Wilkinson gives to this prayer, one begins to wonder
why our Saviour, when He was asked, "Lord teach us to pray,"
didn't simply respond by pointing to 1 Chronicles 4:10? As instructive
as this verse of the Bible may be with respect to prayer, it has simply
not been given in order that we might have comprehensive instruction about
the subject. Missing from Jabez's prayer (or rather from Wilkinson's teaching
in this little book) is much of an emphasis on the hallowing of God's
name, the doing of God's will, and you will not find any reference at
all to the need for the forgiveness of our sins in Christ. Here is the
fundamental problem with Wilkinson's approach: in wresting the words of
this prayer from their covenantal context, we miss Christ and are taught
to pray in a way that expresses no fundamental need for Christ. That's
why this book can also be so successful among unbelievers.
To be sure Wilkinson makes a few good points. In applying the words of
Jabez, Wilkinson suggests that we need to learn to pray with a passion
for more of God's glory in a way that might sound something like: 0 God
and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that
I touch more lives for Your glory. Let me do more for You! (p.32). Only
the crustiest curmudgeon would deny the need for such praying in our lives.
Wilkinson effectively challenges the complacency of a comfortable and
mediocre Christianity.
But when he derives this from Jabez's plea to the Lord in I Chron. 4:10
to "enlarge my territory" he misses the fact that in context
these words have to do with the covenantal inheritance focused in Christ,
and not with building a personal empire. Wilkinson is unashamed and unequivocal
when he suggests, for instance, that it is this prayer of Jabez that teaches
Christian businessmen to pray for more business. "Absolutely!"
he says (p. 31).
In the end the door is opened for an abuse of prayer that is essentially
more pagan than Christian. The danger is that God becomes reduced to the
keeper of the storehouses of blessing, and prayer gets reduced to the
specific magic words that unlock the doors. Believers and unbelievers
alike are impressed. The focus is fundamentally man-centered. Arminianism
infects the whole of the book: "Your loyal heart is the only part
of God's expansion plan that He will not provide," says Wilkinson
(p.60).
Wilkinson ends his book by holding before us the apparent success and
spread of his teaching as evidence of this blessing of God. We are more
inclined, however, to interpret this success as an indication of the weakness
of today's Christianity and of the self-centeredness of our culture. Not
recommended.
Christian Renewal, July 2001, Vol. 19 No. 19. With permission.
