A Brief Prayer of Trust in God by Jacob (Gen 49.18)
“For your salvation I wait, Lord.”
The final prayer in the book of Genesis is quite brief. Though we might think that the best prayers have some heft to them, there is no reason to believe that short prayers cannot be powerful as well. If prayer is about relationship, then the communication should be diverse: sometimes profound, sometimes simple; sometimes lengthy, sometimes short. I might pass my wife in the kitchen and say, “You look beautiful.” I might have a moment between business meetings and say, “God, thank you for caring for me.” When you have a little time between work tasks, family responsibilities, or any brief space of time, use the short prayers of the Bible as a model (we will see that there are many).
Background
In this prayer, Jacob/Israel says, “For your salvation I wait, Lord.” Despite the brevity, it sums up much of the story and meaning of Genesis. The main characters in the book often demonstrate their lack of trust in God. Sometimes they acted out of fear and did not trust God to protect them (Abraham said, “she’s my sister, not my wife” to protect himself). Sometimes they acted with selfishness (Isaac tricks his old father out of inheritance).1 Sometimes, they are unwilling to wait for God’s plan to unfold as He wills (Abraham having a child with Hagar),2 and some even betrayed and imprisoned their own family members (Joseph’s older brothers).3 In other words, they are us. We lack faith and trust in God when things get tough; we try to make things happen on our own, and we betray and hurt others.
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