Jacob is in fear and has made a plan but he goes to God for help. a. The address. He does not call upon the angels whom he had seen or to the gods of Mesopotamia, of Laban. Instead, he cries out to the God of his father Abraham and his father Isaac. Again there is a sense of humility in the very way he addresses God. Also, in reference his father and grandfather he is calling upon the God who entered into a covenant with them and promised to keep the covenant. He also addresses God as Yahweh or Jehovah “who said to me return to your country and kindred, that I may do you good.” Jacob uses the divine name and repeats the command to go that was given him. So Jacob addresses the covenant God of his fathers and the God that spoke to him and told him to go. b. Thanksgiving. Jacob then admits that he is not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that was shown to him. Jacob, the heel-grabber now fully admits that he is unworthy of all that God has done for him. Jacob admits that when he left Canaan, he only had his staff, and now on his return he has enough to create two separate camps. It is a rags to riches story and Jacob has been made humble by it. c. Petition. After his acknowledgment and thanksgiving, he states his petition. “Please deliver me from Esau, for I fear him.” The people of God have always gone to God with their fears. Throughout scripture we find the command to go to God when we are afraid or we have anxiety. In fact, God would command through the apostle Paul exactly what Jacob does here. (Philippians 4:6) “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” d. Promises. Jacob finishes his prayer with the very promises of God. God said to Jacob when he was at Bethel twenty years prior that he was with him and would keep him wherever he went. He also states the promise of God that he would make his offspring as the sand of the sea. Now at Bethel God told Jacob that his offspring would be like the dust of the earth. We don’t have recorded in scripture that God says that his offspring would be like the sand of the sea. But we do have it recorded in Genesis 22:17 where God makes the promise to Abraham. And so Jacob is claiming the covenantal promise made to Abraham that passed to Isaac and has been passed on to him. And we, who are in Christ, claim the same promises. According to Galatians 3, if we are Christ’s then we are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.