The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Hebrews 11:11-12, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

A lot of women today are woefully discouraged because they are omitted from things historically left to men. Godly men, however, are not desirous to omit women; rather, they delight in women, knowing that multiple tasks virtually require the attention of industrious women. I could speak at length on this subject without fear of successful contradiction because I was married to such a woman for 64 years! Believe me there were subjects that she handled that I could never have handled so successfully; and I’m not bound in my thinking to the bearing children and caring for them at various stages in their lives. Men, we have to fact it: women can do some things we could never do!

The name Sarah (??????) means “princess” in Hebrew. Yet, as with modern “princesses,” Sarah did not always behave as her name would imply. We find her first in Genesis 17, where she is already the wife of Abraham. We also learn that Sarah was baren. Neither she nor her husband believed what the angels said when they told her that she would bear a son. Sarah was 90 years old at the time.

Her disbelief was a failure of faith.

She added to her unbelief when she suggested that her husband have a child by Hagar, Sarah’s maid. That union produced a son, named Ishmael. He was their son: Abraham’s, Sarah’s and Hagar’s; but Ishmael was not God’s promised son. He would be named

Isaac, and he would be the son of Abraham and Sarah, as the angels had promised. Oh, how often we seek to be the answer of the LORD’s promise. And what is that except our lack of faith?

As Ishmael and Isaac grew, they became rivals. Ishmael taunted Isaac, and Sarah would not stand for that son of Hagar to belittle her son Isaac. Much less would she stand for Ishmael to rivial Isaac for the inheritance that would eventually come from Abraham. Thus, she pressured Abraham to turn Hagar away and she and her son Ishmael left and wandered for a time in the wilderness.

How on Earth could Sarah have found herself listed in the Roll Call of the Faithful here in Hebrews 11? I can find only two things: one, she by faith “received ability to conceive” even at 90 years of age; and when she considered the LORD to be faithful. For it was He Who was the One who had given her the promise. Further, she acknowledged Abraham as the leader, obeying him and even calling him “lord.”

The LORD has a means of honoring women. And many would have been honored had they simply believed in Him and labored faithfully in the place in life He intended for them to occupy. A personal note to the women reading this Grands Letter: You are never so honored as you are when you occupy the place the LORD has for you. Don’t try to be manly! Find the LORD’s place and He will honor you beyond measure with abundance! A personal note to the men reading this Grands Letter: You have been gifted in life with the most precious treasure of all, a loving, faithful wife. Never put her down! Never belittle her –ever, especially in the presence of others. Such is an act of faithlessness toward God, because it is He who has blessed you with her! One Day He is Coming! And on that Day you will discover the value each of you has had to the other. Pray together! Pray for one another! Be faithful to Him and to each other! You may yet make His Roll Call of the Faithful. I pray you will. Pray that I will, too!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”