When we are very afraid, it is time to pray to God.

Despite about 20 years passing,

Jacob was still greatly afraid

when his brother Esau approached him with 400 men.

He feared for himself, his wives, and his children.

It was at this moment that Jacob prayed to God.

He clung to the promise of his ancestors' God and prayed:

"O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac,

LORD, you who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives,

and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness

you have shown your servant" (Genesis 32:9-10).

He also prayed with a heart of gratitude for the grace God had already shown him:

"I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness

you have shown your servant" (v. 10).

"I crossed the Jordan with only my staff, but now I have become two camps."

And he prayed fervently to be delivered from the hand of his brother Esau.

As he concluded his prayer, he once again clung to the word of the Lord in faith,

saying: "You said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants

like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted'" (vv. 6-12).

The time to pray to God is when you are greatly afraid.

Remembering the grace already bestowed by God,

one should pray in faith, clinging to the word of God:

"I will surely make you prosper" (v. 12).