Genesis 32:9-12. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Note the humility of Jacob’s prayer. We cannot expect our supplications to speed with God unless we put them upon the footing of free grace by acknowledging that we have no merit of our own which we can plead before him.
Yet notice also how Jacob reminds God of his promise, "Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good." That is the very pith and marrow of prayer when we can quote the Lord’s promise, and say to him, "Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." You have a strong plea to urge with God when you can say to him, "Thou saidst," for he is a God who cannot lie.
Genesis 32:9-12. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Note the humility of Jacob’s prayer. We cannot expect our supplications to speed with God unless we put them upon the footing of free grace by acknowledging that we have no merit of our own which we can plead before him.
Yet notice also how Jacob reminds God of his promise, "Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good." That is the very pith and marrow of prayer when we can quote the Lord’s promise, and say to him, "Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." You have a strong plea to urge with God when you can say to him, "Thou saidst," for he is a God who cannot lie.