The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Genesis 31:44-49, “’So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.’
45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, ‘Gather stones.’ So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47 Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48 Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me this day.’ Therefore it was named Galeed,
49 and Mizpah, for he said, ‘May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.’”

Did you ever have an agreement with someone you thought you could trust, only to have it turn out that you couldn’t trust him at all? Yes, somewhere you have. Laban was Jacob’s uncle and they had agreed that Jacob would work for Laban for seven years, after which Laban would give his daughter, Rachel, in marriage to Jacob. But the morning after their wedding night, Jacob learned that he had been given Rachel’s older sister, Leah, instead. This caused an tremendous family uproar!

Love is indeed a strong factor! Jacob’s love for Rachel was so intense that he agreed to serve another seven years for her. In all of that time, Laban cheated Jacob again and again (Genesis 31), until they agreed to part ways completely. But first, they heaped together a pile of stones as a visible sign of their relational covenant. They were still not in full agreement when they piled the stones because they couldn’t even agree on what to name the stone! Strangely enough, it was Laban who said,

“…although no man is with us,
God is witness between you and me.”

Although we might strike an agreement with someone we do not fully trust, once it is agreed upon, the moral law of God requires that we stand truthfully by what we have said. God will have indeed witnessed the agreement, and it is His will that you remain true to everything you have said.

We have to be true to our fellowman if we expect the LORD to protect us. Friends and neighbors are watching to see if they can trust us as well. Regardless of who is right and who is wrong, the LORD God is witness to every situation. If we are truly His, we will act accordingly.

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