The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 103:8-12, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

How often we fear the LORD? Yet, we discover Him to be “compassionate and gracious.” Yes, He strives with us, but He does not hold His anger against us forever. We discover Him to be like our parents. They are angry at us when we do wrong; yet not forever.

Have I not previously shared with you about that “weeping willow tree” that graced
the backyard of my boyhood home? My transgressions often felt the wrath of those
thin, stout limbs, as they sought to drive wrong from me, accompanied by the crying
promise that I would never do it again.

Experiences such as those were intended to drive from me those the wrongs that I had done. So it is with the LORD. He punishes us not from meanness or hatred, but to enlighten us that we might become more and more like Him.

Oh, how I hated and despised what seemed like anger from those weeping willow limbs. Yet, as I grew, I learned to love what they had done for me. And so it is with the discipline of the LORD. Oh, what we all might have been had it not been for loving parents, whom the LORD used to discipline our youthful wrongs! What we once despised, we now view with thanksgiving. Praise the LORD!

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