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Beware of Your Name Lest You Fail in Life
Beware of Your Name Lest You Fail in Life. For most people, especially women, in most parts of the world, the birth of a child, after nine months or more of waiting, is always a thing of joy to them.
Such is an occasion for a parent to get hold of his or her baby for such a time.
Everything about that moment is simply special and almost indescribable.
This was, however, not the case of a certain woman, name not known, in Ancient Israel.
She gave birth to a baby boy, but instead of being joyous as most other women would do, she wasn’t.
How do I know?
I knew this from the name, Jabez, a Hebrew name that meant sorrow or pain, which she named her son.
On why she chose that name, she said because she gave birth to him in pain.
That may not come as a surprise because it was common in the Jewish culture, at that time, for parents, to give symbolic names to their children.
The name of a person, also in ancient Jewish customs, somehow foretells his future.
By naming her son Jabez, the mother of Jabez is probably giving a vision of what is yet to come for her son.
She may have seen that her son would have a bleak future, with his life full of pains and sorrows.
Would the fact that Jabez’s mother experienced intense physical or emotional pain while giving birth to her son warrant her to give her son such a wicked name?
“What kind of mother would decide to transfer her pain to her innocent newborn child, to saddle him with a moniker that would define his existence?” you might ask.
A mother who deliberately crippled her son’s destiny with a name which had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with her is by no mean a cruel, insensitive, and selfish mother.
Did she really need to go that far?”
I think, not!
The original source of this story, the Holy Bible, does not mention the name of Jabez’s mother, but she has been implicitly defined by her attitude and choice of name for her son.
Any Hope for Jabez?
Yes, there was a big hope for him.
Contrary to the meaning of his name, he defied all odds, including his supposed destiny, and became a man of fervent prayer.
His strong belief in God propelled him to cry out to Him boldly, and because of his good relationship with God, he was described as honourable; in fact, “more honourable than his brothers.”
The Lesson from Jabez’s Story?
Many of us can relate to Jabez’s story, because we are already familiar with it, because we have been in his shoes or because we know people who are or who have been there.
That said, what lesson can we learn from the thought-provoking and emotional story?
There are three clear major lessons contained in the story.
- The story contains the advice that warns us to beware, at all times, of the kind of name we to take for ourselves or give to our children;
- It confirms that some funny or bad names have a way of influencing one’s future negatively; and
- That a man or a woman, through his or her belief and faith in God, has the power to cancel the negative effect of a bad name given to him or her or one given to self.
Having known these lessons, do you or your child have a not-too-good or bad name that you would like to change or drop?
If yes, this is a good opportunity to do so, for it is not too late a thing to do.
Denounce the name forthwith, using Jabez’s God-factor formula, and pray against the spirit behind it.
Are you ready to do that, now?
If yes, then, pray this prayer:
“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” 1 Chronicles 4:10
Jabez is a man with a pitiful past and no hope for a future. He is a man who struggles to find meaning and significance in life. He is a man who is desperate to be accepted by his fellow man.
And above all, he is a man who craves a relationship with God.
Like Jabez, you may have been born as a parental accident, but definitely not a Divine accident.
If this sounds like you or your child, please, make sure you pray this prayer, as fervently as possible, and you’ll be sure to have defeated the bad effect of your ill-luck-laden name.
Beware of Your Name Lest You Fail in Life. THE END.
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