The text is Genesis 32:12, part of Jacob’s prayer to the Lord his God: “For you said, ‘I will surely treat you well…” In Spurgeon’s translation, it is, “I will surely do thee good.” After something of a meditation on Jacob’s privilege, and ours, of having the living God as our God, Spurgeon emphasises the further blessing of being able to come before him in prayer. This leads him into a sermon about praying, the kind of sermon to which he often returns, pressing home not only the wonder but the necessity of calling upon the Lord. Here Jacob’s prayer becomes first our memorial, for we need to remember what the Lord has said, studying out the distinctive elements of his particular promises to us. We ought to consider this prayer next as God’s bond—his promise holding him fast to a particular course of action. Everything that is in God secures the assured outcome. And so this ought to be our plea in prayer also: “You said!” What a childlike plea! How earnest and how expectant! Here is a way to plead which will bring the pledged result to everyone who comes with faith to the God who has promised blessing to those who call upon him. And so we still learn, from Jacob, how to pray.

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