Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it not be to my sorrow! God granted him that which he requested.
People tell you that they never saw any one so well dressed, and that no voice could be so sweet as yours. Their whole mind is focused, not on you, but on what they can gain by using you. The race of flatterers is never extinct, though the flattered usually flatter themselves that flatterers really don’t exist. They believe that men flatter others, but it is all so obvious and transparent when heaped upon themselves, that they accept it with a great deal of self-complacency, as being perhaps a little exaggerated, but after all very close to the truth. We are not very quick to ignore the praises that others offer us; yet, if we were wise, we would take to heart those who criticize us; and we would always keep at arm’s length those who praise us, for those who criticize us to our face cannot possibly be trying to take advantage of us; but with regard to those who “loudly bless us early in the morning,” we may suspect, and be seldom wrong in the suspicion, that there is some other motive in the praise which they give to us than that which appears on the surface. Young man, are you placed in a position where God honors you? Beware of the flatterers. Or have you recently received a large inheritance? Do you have an abundance? There are always flies where there is honey. Beware of flattery. Young woman, are you lovely to look upon? There will be those around you that will have their designs, perhaps their evil designs, in praising your beauty. Beware of flatterers. Turn aside from all these who have honey on their tongue, hiding the poison of asps under it. Remember Solomon’s caution, “to avoid a person who talks too much,” a person full of flattery. Cry out to God, “Deliver me from all this vain adoration, which nauseates my soul.” Therefore, you will have all the more reason to fervently pray to God, “Oh, that  you would bless me! Let me have your blessing, which never says more than it means; which never gives less than it promises.” If you then take the prayer of Jabez as being put in contrast with the blessings which come from men, you will see the force of his prayer.
