Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

• Isaiah 55:1-2

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

• John 8:32

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain.’ People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks. I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

• Jeremiah 31:23-25

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
    I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

• Psalm 63:1-8

My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

• Psalm 71:8

May my tongue sing of your word,
    for all your commands are righteous.

• Psalm 119:172

The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
    to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
    wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

• Isaiah 50:4

The Boilerplate

My wife took a Bible Study in 2011.  (There was a note in the study guide that identified September 2 and that the study was being held on Friday mornings, or I might not have ever figured out what year.)  My wife had become a Christian in 2000. She greatly respected the pastor’s wife who was also a pastor.  The pastor’s wife spent time as the interim associate pastor, and this Bible study might have been during that time.

My wife passed away in March 2023, and I found this study guide as I was cleaning up.  It is a Beth Moore study guide.  Most of the questions are close-ended, mostly fill-in-the-blank.  But my wife was eager to learn.  She wrote her thoughts in the margins, sometimes encouraged to do so by Beth Moore.  I will use her comments as I did once before, calling this a “with a little help” series in that my wife contributes.  There is more to follow in that she wrote Scriptures and prayers in a notebook.  Probably what she found in her personal Bible study, giving her encouragement through the long illness that took her life.

So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I am going to write on my wife’s comments in the Study Guide. It may follow the study guide topics, but it may not.

Discussion on this topic

The photo above is of a tomato sandwich. I wrote about a tomato sandwich, about a year ago. I mentioned that my Dad sat down with me and told me that a tomato sandwich was a meal fit for a king. Other than a pinch of salt, there were just three ingredients, tomato, bread, and mayonnaise. Then my Dad said that when times are hard, any two of those three ingredients are a great meal on their own. I have had a lot of tomato sandwiches lately, and I have been satisfied, a meal fit for a king.

Beth Moore starts by asking for my wife’s thoughts on John 8:32.

“Show us the truth and it will set us free.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

In Isaiah 55:1-2, adds what to your thoughts on being satisfied?

“Satisfied means being content and fulfilled   In Isaiah 55:1-2, we find spiritual nourishment.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

Beth Moore asked, “Is your soul entirely satisfied with Christ?

“I’ve no one else.”

• My wife’s response

Ouch!  That hurt, but then again, God does not fall short, while we do on occasion.

Why are we dissatisfied so often in life?

“The hype of the event (or thing) is greater than the deliverance of it.  ‘Is that all there is?’”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

While my wife saw stability in me, a good moral code, and a hard worker, she also saw my goofy side, my clumsy side, and my irritable side.

I have heard too many husbands, and a few wives, say, “She (He) was not like this before we got married.”  They complain of such things as never helping around the house, never cooking meals, wearing the same stinking clothes three or four times before putting them in the laundry, etc.  But they did not do those things or avoid those things before marriage.  They cooked, cleaned, and did laundry.  They were putting on a show to attract their spouse.  The hype was greater than the “deliverance.”  Maybe “delivery” would be better?

How do you know when you are hungry?  Thirsty?

“Hungry – Your stomach growls.  Sometimes you feel faint.  No energy.  Headache.
Thirsty – Your lips are dry.  Your throat is dry.  Can’t speak because of dryness.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

My wife loved to talk, so that last one would hurt.  But sometimes some of the hungry symptoms that she mentions could be thirst.  But knowing what the signals are, we have a better chance of being satisfied.

In reading Psalm 63, why did the writer of the psalm have such hunger and thirst?  And what was the writer’s expectation?

“He longs to be close to God in intense need.  No one understands but our God.  [The writer’s expectation is that] His soul will be satisfied and he’ll praise God’s name.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

And what about the verses from Psalm 71, Psalm 119, and Isaiah 50 above?  How do we show our praise?

“My mouth will sing praise.  My tongue sings.  The Word sustains the weary.  I’m satisfied with God.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

But what might cause a dry spirit?

“Disobedient, argumentative, anger, being judgmental.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

God meets our needs.  If we are not satisfied, we need to examine ourselves.  Are we greedy?  Are we asking for too much?

My wife wrote over and over that we must do everything with thanksgiving, praising God.  But we must do so from the heart, really mean it when we praise God.  Sometimes when it hurts, we might pray a similar prayer to what Corrie ten Boom prayed when a guard at her concentration camp reached out a hand to shake hers, asking her to forgive.  “Dear Lord, I will extend my hand.  You supply the feeling.”  And sometimes that prayer gets immediate miraculous results, as it did with Tante Corrie.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory