The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 61

himself wait the sovereign will of a sovereign God-patient, content, trustfnl; nnw to rdense those lips and open his mouth, that he might render grateful praise to t11e boun- tiful Giver of all good, or the loving and careful Protector of all those who put their trust in him. When Jabez says, "Oh that thine hand might be with me!" he puts himself into that vast and secure hand of God, and wishes nothing more, nothin<Y better for himself, than as the little child, feeble, uncertain, and easily wearyin<Y, t~ take the strong hand of his Father. He had simple faith that the hand, the pres~nce of which "with" him he entreated, woulu be under all events a "good hand upon" him. The surrender of dependence betokened by the prayer was justly as hopeful as it was trustful. We need nothing more than that the hand of God, in all its varied exercise, should ba with us. But when we have thus prayed, we may not forget what our prayer has been. Anu in great variety of e':t',perience on our own part-experience of sorrow, and difficulty, and toil, and slowness, as well as in all the converse of these respectively-we must remember to trace and acknowledge the tokens of that hand for which we prayed being: with us, and not another hand, inferior in goodness and wisdom as well as power. For often the variety and contrasts and reverses of our own mutable state reflect the ever-varying and adapting presence and grace of One who is in him- self the Unchanging. How often has our own hand misdone, how often has the hand of others misled or misdirected us I How blessed is he who can say that, for his prayer, God has "beset him behind and before, and has laid his hand upon him "1 Ver. 10.-The prayer of victory over e1Jil. ".And that thou wouldest . . . may not grieve me." This is the last petition of the prayer of Jabez. While the foregoing petition was very comprehensive and wide-reaching in one sense, this is comprehensive and far- seeing in another. There could scarcely be a larger or a wiser intreaty than that God would vouchsafe the perpetual presence of bis hand-the hand that makes, that gives, that leads, that upholds, that shields, that at last saves with an everlasting salvation. Nor, on the other he.nd, could there easily be offered prayer that should more betokeu self-knowledge, self-distrust, and a wise estimate of the constantly endangered position in which any man may justly describe himself as placed in this present world, than the prayer with which Jabez now sums up what he has to say: "And that thou wouldcst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" Of the few petitions of our Lord's Prayer, this forms one, and an emphatic one, "Deliver me from evil." Evil is a large enemy. In one shape or another, it is ever threatening to attack. .And if in anything we need superior help, it is in combating a foe so ubiquitous, so persevering, so subtle, and so essentially disastrous. \Ve may observe here- I. THAT THERE ARE SIGNS OF A USEFUL LESSON HAVING DEEN LEARNT FROM PAL'>. Pain is intrinsically evil in this world. It was no original part of it. It is now utilized in many a direction. It is now overruled to many e.nd high arlvantages. Dut it i,i none the less to bo noticed as foreign in. itself to the nature of God, to the conception of a perfect creation, to the bliss of man. Yet as things are, nnd as we are, it is wise to learn from even bodily pnin. It is often becnuse we will not lenrn from other sugges- tions that we are compelled to learn from the actual experiences of pain. \V c may probably put down something higher to the credit of Jabez. \Ve do not knowns fact that he himself had been called to endure much pain, or any at nll noteworthy. llut he knew his own name. He knew what it meant, and how it had como to be given to him. Ho took the warning of it, and the forewarning of his mother's method of empha- sizing whnt were her opinions nnd convictions on the subject. It was not the mnrk of Cain that was on his open brow. Dut the name of a mother's love and anguish mingled was named upon him. And ho prays to the Mightier than he, to preservu him so from evil, that it might not bring him to fulfil in his nature what was confessedly bis 11ame. 'l'wo things may be ever well remembered respecting pain: (1) thnt it 1uust faithfully and honestly be ranked among the enemies of God and tho antagonists of perfect nature; but (l::) that for a time, and for our present condition, it mny ho a timely lesson, a source of valunblo suggestion, the n<lapted caution of the hour, tho ~afcguard that may act with the quickness antl the certainty of rm instinct. Yet, what• ever rnny be said justly and correctly respecting the acquired uses of pain, J abcz offer~ his petition deprecatory of that evil, the fruit and end of which is mere pllin. II. 'l'rrAT TIIERE Al<E SIONS OF A CORREO~ LESSON HA VINO JlEE!-1 LE,\ltN1' ADOU1' EVII, 52 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en. 1v. 1-43.