Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Be merciful to those who doubt;

• Jude 1:22

“But if I go to the east, he is not there;
    if I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
    when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

• Job 23:8-10

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

• John 14:1

“For many, believing in God and Jesus is difficult, and life is filled with doubts. Know that God is patient and waits for that day when you will come to him. …

“Sometimes we just need to look for God in our lives. And listen to him speak to us.

Praying God’s Promise:
“God, as I come to you, I feel strange even just praying to you. I suppose I believe just enough to come to you right now in prayer. But not enough to believe everything that the Bible says. I think I’m simply asking for you to show me something. Help me believe in you. The words from the book of Job reveal a promise for me, that even though I cannot see you, you are there. And in my journey of searching, you say that you know the way I go. So I simply ask that you be patient with me. Show me your presence. Help me believe, God.”

• Ken Petersen, General Editor, Prayer Points, Praying God’s Promises

The little book quoted above was one that I wanted to read years ago, but my wife insisted on reading it first.  Of the 30-40 books that she insisted on reading first, she had a bookmark in each, anywhere from 20 pages into the book to maybe over 100.  In this case, the bookmark was either on page 94 or 95, a magnetic one, and I have no idea which face of the bookmark she was using.

Her combination of diseases and conditions played havoc on her attention span.  I had been there, not being able to remember what happened on page 1, reading that same page ten times and then tossing the book aside.  Mine was stress related and temporary.  We thought hers was dementia, but the neurologist took a couple of years to rule out Alzheimer’s Disease, and then he felt she was not doing too bad anyway.  But reminding her that she had not finished a book was the wrong thing to do.  She feared what she was becoming, and God was gracious to have her pass before her dementia got worse.

But that is a long preamble to a book that I might use on occasion.

This little group of promises, the Scriptures above, a few sentences, and the prayer was on the topic of “Uncertainty.”

We all have our doubts, or we have a season of doubts at one point and then never again.

Living in a house of three stories, but not many rooms, and being alone with God and my thoughts, I have had evil attack me saying that I was not saved.  But then, the Holy Spirit would remind me of the night I accepted Jesus.  The next morning, I read the chapters in the Bible that I had read the night before, and they had such different meaning to me, that I was nearly dancing.  I kept saying, “So, that is what God meant by that passage!”  That understanding that I gained then, and that understanding has grown since, can only come if the Holy Spirit has taken refuge in our heart.  That is my chief means of telling Satan to take a hike.

Then there is the evidence that I see in nature and in the “coincidences” of life (and I do not believe in coincidences).  They are God’s blessings.  You might argue away what happened as not being a miracle, but the timing that was just the right thing at the right time, told me that God was taking care of me.

My wife held to a trip to Walt Disney World that cemented her faith.  She was invited to join family members there, but she could not.  We did not have the money for the airline ticket, the only thing we had to pay for.  But then, my wife prayed and the next day an unexpected insurance rebate came in the mail.  The check was for the exact amount of the airline ticket.  That check had been placed in the mail days before, but God knew when she would say that prayer, and He had already said “Yes.”

We may hear the attacks that our faith was some group hysteria, or synapses in the brain wiring themselves improperly, but as the quote states, all we can do is to double-down on our faith and listen to that small voice from God who says, “I’m here,” in whatever method we will be assured in our life that God is personally, lovingly, and patiently working in our lives.

And we can count on the promises of God.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.