I Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested
Everything and everyone you know has a record. Sometimes that can be good. Someone might say they have a good record. They have worked for a company for thirty years and have a pristine record. Sometimes we say that someone has a record and we are talking about a criminal record. Good or bad, everyone and everything has a record. We talk about a newspaper called the Chronicle. That is a record, the record of what has happened.
There is an entire book, divided into two, called Chronicles. First Chronicles is just that, a record. It begins way back. The very first word in the book is “Adam,” the name of the first man, and there is a record from Adam all the way up to the end of the second book of Chronicles. Chronicles 4:22 says, “And these things are ancient things.” Now, the book of Chronicles was written thousands of years ago, yet the things it was talking about happened long before that. So, this is a very ancient record
The Bible says in the New Testament, “Forgetting those things which are behind…I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” So, whatever your past, whether good or bad, as someone has said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” That is true. So, everyone has a record.
I think about Achar, who is mentioned early in I Chronicles. The Bible says that Achar was “the troubler of Israel.” His very name meant “trouble” and he lived up to his name. I noticed yesterday when reading I Chronicles 1 that when Jacob is mentioned, he is not called Jacob. He is called Israel. That was his new name. So, you can choose to live up to a bad name or you can choose to live down a bad name. Choose to have a fresh start.
The point is, as an old maxim says, “Every day is a fresh start for a wise person.” In I Chronicles 4 we read about Jabez. He definitely had a new day and a fresh start. The Bible says of Jabez, “And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.” So, in I Chronicles 4:9-10 we see what Jabez is, was, and did to change from what he had been to what he became.
Verse 10 says, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” There is a lot we could say about this verse, but suffice it to say, he had a bad name by birth. His mom called him trouble. It was the very beginning of his existence, but the record is that he was more honorable than his brethren. What was the difference? He made a choice. He called on the God of Israel and that God granted him that which he requested. Every day is a fresh start to a wise person.
How do you make a new day or season a fresh start? First, you have to acknowledge your past, what came before where you are today. Once you have acknowledged your past, don’t submit to it. Don’t become a slave of your past. Maybe you have a wonderful past. Don’t live back there. You can’t do that. The old saying is that the older you get the better you were. You can remember how able you were at one time and now you are not. Well, acknowledge your past, but don’t live back there.
Maybe you have a bad past. You can’t go back in time to change, but you can make a fresh start today. One of the greatest feelings in the world to me is when you are skiing and you get up early to be the first one on the mountain. If it snowed the night before, the mountain is full of fresh powder with no tracks. The tracks you put down are the first ones on the mountain that day. Every day is fresh powder, a new start for a wise person. So, acknowledge your past, but don’t live back there. Whether good or bad, don’t submit to your past.
Second, if you are going to make a fresh start, you need to acknowledge God. That is what Jabez did. He called on the God of Israel. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” It is knowing God, not knowing everything else, that gives you guidance for life. Proverbs 3:7 says, “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
In Proverbs 3:19-20 we are reminded that God is the Creator. He spoke this world into existence by his wisdom and knowledge. So, it is not your knowledge; it is God’s knowledge. It is not your knowing everything; it is your knowing God that gives guidance. So, acknowledge your past and acknowledge God. God is the Creator. He spoke the world into existence and can recreate you today if you would rest yourself in His care and guidance.
I once went to a park outside of Douglas, Wyoming where there are still ruts from the wagons of pioneers who took the famed Oregon Trail from to California. If you were to drop into those ruts and follow them, you would end up where the pioneers ended up. Today, it is so easy to drop into ruts, things you have always done, things you have done before. It does not take a genius to know where the ruts lead. Just look ahead and see where they go. You are not a victim or a slave. You are not obliged to live in the ruts you have created before today. God can give you a fresh start, but you have to take it. You have to acknowledge your past and assess it, acknowledge God and follow Him because every day is a fresh start to a wise person.