The Integrity of a Bold Vision, Part 1

Truth be told, much about life is rather mundane.

In fact, at times we find our daily responsibilities, well, boring. So what's the secret to broadening our world? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll begins a three-day message in which we explore the answer to that question. We'll be looking at a somewhat obscure character in the Bible who provides a wonderful model. Jabez, who wanted more in life, cried out to God for help, and the result of his courageous appeal is surprising. Chuck titled today's message, The Integrity of a Bold Vision. Please turn in your Bibles to First Chronicles, chapter four.

I'll give you about 20 minutes to locate that. Unfamiliar territory, isn't it? We're thinking about the role of integrity among those who endured a great deal of adversity. And the one we're looking at in the tombstones of this particular chapter is certainly one that qualifies because of his bold vision in the midst of obscurity and anguish, as we will see in a few moments. I'm looking at First Chronicles, chapter four, verses nine and ten in the New Living Translation. First Chronicles four, verse nine. There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers.

His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory, please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain. And God granted him his request. That's it. That's all we have in all the scriptures about this otherwise unknown, obscure individual. You're listening to Insight for Living. To search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures Studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies.

Chuck titled his message The Integrity of a Bold Vision. When was the last time you took a long, leisurely walk through a cemetery? Probably never. Cemeteries aren't places where we lounge around or spend time with our family and walk among the tombs reading epitaphs. Usually they're places we arrive at the last minute for a graveside service and then quickly leave. The service is always brief and maybe it's, it's on occasion we will bring flowers to someone we have loved and lost and then we're gone again. It seems to me that we might be wise not always to drive so quickly by every cemetery.

Perhaps there's something significant we're overlooking. Clarence Edward McCartney in his fine little book Bible Epitaphs writes about this. I have no dread of a cemetery. Sometimes it is better to be there and have fellowship with the dead who are buried than to walk down the streets of our cities and meet the unburied dead.

That is those in whom faith and hope and love and purity have long been dead, leaving only the animal alive. In the cemetery the Bible of life is open and a passionless voice reads to us its great lessons and tells us to apply our hearts unto wisdom. Sometimes we can learn more from the silence of the dead than from the speech of the living. It occurred to me that reading through the first chapters of the book of First Chronicles, the first nine chapters, is a lot like strolling slowly through a cemetery. We read of people we're not familiar with who have names we can't pronounce.

They offer no context to bring them relevance to our world. Frankly, it's rather boring. Anyone who's attempted to read through the Bible has usually decided to give up that idea when they hit First Chronicles. And then they have Second Chronicles to look forward to, which by the way is a lot more interesting. But this first section of First Chronicles, well, for example, let me read a few random verses. I'll read chapter four, six, seven, and eight. You just listen. Neirah gave birth to Ahuzam, Hefer, Tamini, and Heir-i-Shtari.

Helah gave birth to Zarath, Ishar, Elman, and Kos, and who became the ancestor of Anub, Zovibah, and all the families of Arathhel, son of Harum. Period. See what I mean? You finish chapter after chapter, verse after verse, tombstone after tombstone, until suddenly you arrive at, well, two verses about one man as the Spirit of God hovers over his life like a divine helicopter hovering over a site. And we realize this must be a treasure, a treasure worth discovering, examining, and appreciating.

Otherwise, why would the Lord pause in the midst of all of those unknowns and expand one life? J. Oswald Sanders in his fine book, A Spiritual Clinic, writes, When God troubles to preserve the epitaph of one man out of millions and gives it in such concise and meaningful language, we can be certain that it will repay detailed study. Well, I took Oswald Sanders at his word, and for the last week, a little more, I have attempted to unearth, if you will, exhume the treasure found in verses 9 and 10 of 1 Chronicles chapter 4, and indeed, there are things worth discovering. A couple of thoughts come to mind before we even get into the verses themselves, and the first is, obscurity need not overshadow any life. If anyone emerges from obscurity, the man we're considering today is the classic example. Never mentioned before, never mentioned again, like a meteor across the night sky, his name is suddenly flashed into the scriptures and never again, never to return. But he was a man who prayed with boldness in spite of the fact that his life had come from obscurity. Now, I think I speak to some who understand coming from obscurity.

I certainly do. Remember, I'm from El Campo, one of the great sites of Texas. Well, at least not from Mule Shoe or Dimebox or Booger Holler, one of my favorite places, and I'll stop there.

You may be from one of those places, and it isn't funny, except to everybody else. It's obscure. I mean, if you want to see El Campo, you got to pull off the freeway or you'll blink and miss it.

But then when you pull off, you want to get back on a freeway and just keep going, or wherever you're from. Obscurity. But it need not overshadow our lives. Let's not let it.

We won't let it overshadow JVES. Here's the second. Disabilities need not limit our vision.

You say, where do you get that? Well, as you will see, he had a very unusual name, and it could very well include a serious disability like the one you struggle with. Not all disabilities are as obvious as Johnny Erickson taught us or the man I met at a national conference this this past summer, who has no arms and no legs and sits on a very unusual little chair that's been prepared for him.

Literally no arms, no legs, personality scintillating, full of life, enthusiasm. In fact, one of the things he does, he holds a high school assemblies and the kids pack out the auditorium to hear him. As he somehow gets up on the stage and gets up on this little chair and tells them that life is worth it regardless.

And do they listen? Disabilities need not disqualify anyone, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me read verses nine and ten again, just to refresh our minds. There was a man named JVES who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him JVES. The Hebrew says, JVES, it's rendered in English, we'll look at the meaning in a moment, because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory. Please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain. And God granted him his request.

Period. That's it for JVES. Biblically speaking, you would pass right over it.

If you didn't allow what is written. To grab your attention and give it some study. So let me see if I can put a little meat on these bare bones and help you appreciate what is here and why it is important to all of us. First, JVES. I'm drawn to his Hebrew name because the root of it is pain, anguish, misery. His mother named him that. It's not a nickname. It's his name. We're not told why. So we're left to speculate.

We need to be careful with that. But I'll acknowledge it is speculation that we think on the name pain. Why would she name him that? I think every mother hearing me right now would say, well, I'll tell you, labor and childbirth.

It's a painful experience. It's true. In fact, it is so true and so obvious that that wouldn't be the reason.

Or every mother would name a child that. But there's more. Got to be more. Anguish.

The Hebrew word is colorful. Anguish. So there was something about his birth that was anguishing.

Painful. It brought misery. Maybe her husband died during the nine months she carried him. And she birthed him as a single mom and reared him as such, along with a house full of other children. Could it be that that she already was struggling, having enough income to feed the family? And now along comes another. Maybe they were at war at that time.

It does happen. It seems as best to place it in a context of the conquest of Joshua, moving into Canaan and establishing their land among the Jews there in Canaan. Maybe there was a battle going on. Maybe her husband was killed in the battle. Maybe a couple of her children that were older. And here she is this birth.

And without being too dramatic, it just may be that he was he was not expected. And the conception came as a surprise. And she wasn't ready for another child. Already had a house full. My grandmother was from a family of 19. I call that a litter. That's that's a that's a lot of kids.

I don't know how many of Jamie's mother had, but she had a lot. And maybe she didn't want to have another. Maybe you were not planned. Welcome to the club.

I wasn't either. In fact, early on, I was told you were a mistake. I kind of like that. I like kind of makes me different. The others are planned. I just am here.

That's what you get for messing around. I'm here. Hi. My mother, my mother tells a very told a very cute story as I was growing up. She and my dad visited his mother.

I never knew her. She died before I was born. But my mother was carrying me when they visited my dad's mother.

She was a tough southern woman. Understand, she stood about four feet eight, weighed about 80 pounds, dripping wet. And she spoke her mind and she she watched as my mother was busy with one child still in diapers. A little girl and then an older little older year older son just barely out of diapers. And here she is waddling along with me in her in her belly. And my paternal grandmother looked at her and said, Earl, come here.

My dad, he stood about 61, 62. He said, yes, ma'am. And she said, the Bible says to multiply and fill the earth. But he never expected one woman to do it all. Leave her alone.

And he goes, yes, ma'am. I think he did. I'm the last child that they had. But maybe it isn't funny. Maybe your not being wanted led to abuse. Thankfully, mine didn't. But maybe yours did. An unwanted child is often a mistreated child. It may have been J.B.'s background.

We don't know. I think of his growing up as a little boy named Payne. Hi. Can Payne come out and play? All your life you're left with that handle.

How about in school? Payne, it's your turn. Payne.

Payne. But she deliberately named him that. Don't tell me it didn't bother him.

I've reason to believe it haunted him. Just as for some of you, the abuse of your past has led to serious psychological problems. And you've needed help to recover. And I respect you for seeking help.

No child should ever be abused. But his name. I've thought about lovely names. Faith, Hope, Serenity, Victoria. Isn't that a pretty name?

Grace. And for boys, Victor, Prince. There was a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams years ago with a great name, Roman Gabriel. What's a quarterback playing football doing named Roman Gabriel? What a great name.

Here's Payne. Isn't it interesting that the very first thing we read about him is that he's more honorable than his brothers? There's a man named Jabez who is more honorable than any of his brothers. Could mean his family brothers, could mean his Jewish peers who are often seen as brothers.

More honorable. Kavol is the Hebrew word. It means heavy.

We use the word weighty as in weighty matters for something significant, important. In fact, this particular word is used in numbers 2215 translated distinguished. Isn't that interesting? More distinguished. Now we're getting somewhere more than his peers. We greatly admire people who come out of nothing and nowhere and emerge into greatness.

I think that's part of the reason we have such a high regard for our 16th president. Born in obscurity in Hardin County, Kentucky in a place without an address, a log cabin in the woods, lived in the woods, stayed there, raised by an illiterate father and a sweet mother who died long before his teenage years. In fact, he helped his dad build the coffin in which he was placed.

I've always thought that was a touching thought. And laid on the mound where they buried her, crying his heart out. His dad left him and his sister as he went to find a wife to help with the children. And he left the children alone. The wife says when she came back and found the children, she was a fine lady. She came back and found them barefoot.

They'd never had shoes. Living, as she put it, like little animals in a cage. Hardly made it through the second creed. Taught himself to read and write. And thanks to his mother, had a built-in interest in becoming self-educated.

Can you believe it? Studied law and passed the bar and practiced it in Illinois. And became the President of the United States. Our greatest president. From nothing more honorable than his peers. We admire people like that. And so for some reason, I'm drawn with admiration to a boy named Payne, who the writer says outstripped his brothers by distinguishing himself.

Unlike any of them, more honorable than they. Whether you've heard of Jabez before or not, we hope today's insightful message from Chuck Swindoll has given you hope about God's plans for you. You're listening to Insight for Living, and if you'd like to learn more about this ministry, please visit insightworld.org.

And then please stay with us because we've set aside two more programs to address this relevant subject. Chuck titled today's message, The Integrity of a Bold Vision. And there's much more he wants to show us about God's answer to Jabez. We always receive wonderful feedback from listeners about the kind of biographical sketch you heard today. Chuck has a way of presenting the biblical record in a manner that helps people relate to Bible characters. We see our own strengths and weaknesses in theirs. And the natural outcome is that we want to apply the wisdom of the Bible to our lives so that we don't make the same mistakes.

As a next step, we're recommending that you read one of the many biographies Chuck has written. It's called Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness. Like Jabez, Joseph started out with very humble conditions. But Joseph rose from the pit of prison to the pinnacle of power. And all along the way, Joseph walked with God and held on to his integrity with each step. So let God show you, through Joseph, how to trust him during the challenges of this new year.

Again, Chuck's biography on Joseph is titled, Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness. To purchase a copy, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash offer. You often hear me say that Insight for Living is made possible not through the purchase of books and other resources, but through the voluntary donations of friends like you. We rely on your support to make these daily Bible studies with Chuck possible. To give a gift today, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or give online at insight.org slash donate. Join us when Chuck Swindoll describes the integrity of a bold vision, Wednesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Integrity of a Bold Vision, was copyrighted in 2021 and 2022, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.