God has angels to take care and protect over us. Chuck smith recalls of some times when he believes and angel saved him from harm, he was consciously aware of the working of an angel. Jacob prays and reminds the Lord of what he said, there is something that is good to remind the Lord of his promises. When Jacob fled from his brother Esau he left just with the walking stick in his hand, but now when he has returned he had many flocks. In the present he gave to Esau was 500 animals which was just part of what he had. An honest negative confession is worse then a positive dis-honest confession. It is best to be honest when you talk with God, who are you kidding; He knows your heart and everything about you. There is no hiding of anything to God; everything is open and naked before him. Faith is not passive but active. But God wants us to trust in His ability to do His work. Jacob wrestles with an angel and would not give up and surrender, so when the angel saw he would not surrender he crippled Jacob. One of Jacob s thoughts was that he could always flee; now the Lord through this crippling has taken away this way of his escape in the flesh. This is an good illustration of what God has to do sometimes to get a person to a place of dependence on the Lord.
