The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 141:1-8, “O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You!

2 May my prayer be counted as incense before You; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.

4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.

5 Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; it is oil upon the head; do not let my head refuse it, for still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock, and they hear my words, for they are pleasant.

7 As when one plows and breaks open the earth, our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8 For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; in You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.”

Were you ever in a situation that could be described as being “between a rock and a hard place”?

That’s obviously where David was when he authored these verses. It was an earnest and hurried prayer: “Set a guard! Keep watch!” These were simply not words thrown into a meaningless sentence. David was serious! To his credit, he tacitly acknowledges the temptation to “practice (their) deeds of wickedness”; yet, throughout everything, he prays against “their wicked deeds.”

Have we not all been in David’s place somewhere in our hurried lives? We had the best of intentions, but suddenly found ourselves helplessly, unintentionally “trapped” inside a company of unbelievers. It was our own fault, but how do we now extricate ourselves from this anti-Christian group?

The Word says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and “a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psa. 51:17). Thus, in whatever potentially compromising situation we might find ourselves, the LORD is always our Anchor of hope and salvation! Praise the LORD!

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

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