The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 85:8-13, “I will hear what God the LORD will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;

But let them not turn back to folly.

9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land.

10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth springs from the earth; And righteousness looks down from heaven.

12 Indeed, the LORD will give what is good; And our land will yield its produce.

13 Righteousness will go before Him, And will make His footsteps into a way.”

“If you will behave yourself, like I have told you, we will see about you going to play with your cousins this afternoon.”

How often this strong-willed lad heard those words from his mother! Yet, time and again he was prohibited from those

desirable activities because he had disobeyed.

The previous seven verses of this Psalm parallel both my youthful disobedience and the disobedience of our nation.

We begged and begged for forgiveness, promising never again to ignore the commands of our Leader. We knew at

the point of our pleading that the LORD was right. He is always right! How could we ever dream of constructing a

nation without His guidance? Yet, one, small success after another led us to believe that WE had achieved the inevitable!

We then grew proud, boasting of our “successes,” but ignoring the spiritual guidance that would have guaranteed it.

Salvation ) ??????yesha ) translates as “deliverance, rescue, safety, welfare!” Is that not what we desire for ourselves

and our nation? Indeed it is near! –but only when we learn to fear and reverence the LORD! Glory (honor, abundance)

can indeed pervade our nation! The LORD “will give what is good,” but not until we learn to honor and obey Him.

Quite often, when I dutifully obeyed as a boy, my mother would exceed in her promises to me. Not only was I

allowed to play with my cousins, but the time was so extended that it seemed I was there all day. Obedience does

exceed stubbornness. Righteousness does produce peace. The LORD does “give what is good” to His people.

Just guess what’s holding Him back….

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom