Locust-eater
Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border . . . ” 1 Chronicles 4:10 ESV
Enlarge – The Hebrew word is raba. In most cases this word is about multiplying physical assets. We find it first in God’s command to His creation, “be fruitful and multiply.” It is also translated “increase,” “gather much,” “heap up,” “give more” and “be many.” In one special use it is the name for a kind of locust. That is interesting. Do you know anything about locust? When they multiply, they become an overwhelming swarm, devouring everything in their path. If there were ever a tangible picture of “multiply,” this little insect is it. They simply breed and breed and breed until they can’t be contained. Quantity in large amounts is the idea behind raba.
Jabez asks God to explode his growth. He says, “God, make my assets multiply like locust. Let them overrun their accounts. Let them burst their borders. Make them grow so much that they can’t be contained. Let them go wild.” That’s quite a request. But Jabez knew that the basis of his request was his willingness to acknowledge both parts of the word “bless” – the gift and the act of bowing down. The only way that God brings this kind of increase is if the increase serves God’s purposes. That’s like saying, “God, I acknowledge that all favor comes from you. You are the only source of my prosperity. And I know that my prosperity means that I submit to you. I bow my knee in worship. And service! So, God, make your blessing big. Give me all you’ve got for me and I will give all I’ve got for you.”
Prosperity people love this request, but what they miss are the two implied conditions. First, they don’t see that if God chooses to increase, it is never for the gain of the asset holder. It is for distribution. My gain is for you, not for me. Of course, God desires that my needs are met. In fact, as the prime directive of Genesis shows, He desires that I experience much more than my needs. But the increase is His trust that I will become a blessing-transport vehicle, not a blessing-retention container. The second thing prosperity advocates miss is this: the attitude and behavior of the one whom God uses as transport is that anything God provides is sufficient. And if God determines to provide no increase at all, then “my grace is sufficient” is still that measure of life for me. The missing ingredient in most prosperity thinking is contentment. Without contentment, all of my desire for increase becomes nothing more than idolatry.
Today you can speak the same words as Jabez. But be ready. There are obligations in blessings. Jabez did not waver in asking because He knew God. Do you know God well enough to boldly ask Him to bring the locust? Does that mean you are ready for God to consume everything that isn’t part of His increase for you?
Topical Index: raba, increase, locust, 1 Chronicles 4:10
Skip, another reminder of an important issue. Thanks.
This one has an interesting application in business. Too often businessmen see that as their business grows they have the opportunity to employ people. They think this is God blessing them and so they expect to make more money out of the arrangement.
The other possibility is that God is not just blessing the employer, but he is using that employer to open up an avenue for someone else to fulfill their calling under God. In which case, the employer’s task is not to make more money, but to make sure the employee has everything he/she needs to be successful.
Maybe extra wealth will come to the employer. That’s not the issue. If it comes, it’s a by-product. The issue is his stewardship of resources to be a blessing to his employees, to cause them to be successful in their callings, to encourage employees in this direction, and to remove whatever hindrances stop the employees from reaching that objective.
If he can achieve this, then the employer and his staff might well be a blessing to the customers they serve.
I wonder how such a philosophy would go down on Wall Street and in the corporate boardrooms of this world?
There was a time (or…once upon a time) in the US when I think this was true for a large percentage of employeers. When a larger part of the citizenship were Bible readers.
I can remember some of my family’s discussion about a new piece of machinery for farming, & how to leave the deep corners so that those poorer could gather there. I know now that they weren’t assuming that the machine’s ability to gather more, quicker, meant they were excused from sharing abundance. One small family farm at a time, one ‘mom & pop’ grocer at a time that hired a sweep-up man they really didn’t need, so that they had an excuse to put $ in his hand to feed his family.
Hearts that behave that way are so much more enlarged than the small, cramped, mean hearts that are never satisfied –and all they secure via greed can’t even begin to fill up.
The gleaning laws of the Old Testament in the twentieth century, along with other vestiges of the Torah, indicate Christanity’s once strong connection with Torah. That Christianity has lost this connection has brought about its downfall.
Yes, the downfall of Christianity is directly related to its lack of Torah practice, which has been in the works for centuries. We are now experiencing the results of this long slide into syncretism. The rise of the mega-church is an indication of how far we have slipped away from the close community of Scriptural assemblies. The Church today looks nothing like the Church of the first century in its quest of power, control, financial gain and political influence. Christianity has become a religion. It is no longer a faithful community. To say this is to cause considerable controversy, but I am not the only one (nor are you, Ian). Watchman Nee said many years ago that when the Church can continue without the daily involvement of the Spirit, it is no longer Christian. We have proven him correct.
I love the part about contentment.
I had an unfortunate series of events occur yesterday — I had UN-knowingly deposited a check three minutes past a certain deadline. This led to a series of stresses that made me feel as if I was going to lose my mind. My screaming, crying, and laughing prayer was, “Release me!!”, because I could see that I was being a slave to my circumstances.
It was a great reality check on my faith. I should actually say, “faith” in quotes — because what kind of faith is sooooo dependent on circumstances? If my mood/outlook/contentment is based only on abundant physical conditions and smooth sailing circumstances, then where is my free choice?
Thank-you Father, for your discipline — may I learn quickly from it!
Amen Gabe, me too.
The Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression,
its overarching themes deal with the alienation and desperation of a broad group of odd individuals who exist at the fringes of the Hollywood movie industry.
The title of West’s work is likely a biblical allusion to certain passages in the Old Testament.
The most famous literary or historical reference to locusts is in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, in which God sends a plague of locusts to the pharaoh of Egypt as retribution for refusing to free the enslaved Jews.
Millions of locusts swarm over the lush fields of Egypt, destroying its food supplies. Destructive locusts also appear in the New Testament in the symbolic and apocalyptic book of Revelation.