Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord.

• Isaiah 54:17

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

• Exodus 2:23-25

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

• Exodus 3:7-10

During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

• Exodus 12:31-36

But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

• Genesis 15:14

From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;

• Exodus 35:5-6

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

What does 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 say we are – in one word?

“resilient thru God”

• My wife’s response

And from the verses before and after those? 2 Corinthians 4:7, 10.  Why do you think God insists on pushing us beyond our human limitations?

“So we can accept Jesus into our hearts and know God is with us.”

• My wife’s response

She is on the right track.  God pushes us so that we realize we cannot do it without God’s help.

In reading Exodus 2:23-25 and Exodus 3:7-10, come up with a caption or title for the story.

“God saw and heard the crisis of His people”

• My wife’s response

Now, what does “He remembered” mean?

“He remembered the promise (covenant) He made with Abraham.”

• My wife’s response

How long were you in your own Egypt?

“Still am and relying on God’s strength daily.”

• My wife’s response

We were not slaves, but she could not find meaningful work, and her health was starting to fail.  I was in a dead-end position, threatened with layoffs every year, although it was an engineer pay scale.  So, without being slaves, we felt the occasional abuse and constant stress with no monetary relief in sight.

In reading Exodus 12:31-36, come up with a caption or title for the story.

“God provided at the last possible time frame – Rescued the Israelites and gave them abundance – The last minute shows God’s hand in it.”

• My wife’s response

My wife and I had that happen several times.  We would pray and pray and then at the last second God came through.  The prayer and last second rescue cemented in our minds that God was behind the rescue.

What did God promise in Genesis 15:14?

“I will punish the nation, the person, etc. that you were slaves to and afterward you’ll get great possessions.”

• My wife’s response

In reading Exodus 35:5-6, where did all that stuff come from?

“From the Egyptians.”

• My wife’s response

How can a person reinvest plunder when brought out of captivity?

“If monetary, give freely back to God.  He’ll multiply it.”

• My wife’s response

My wife and I recovered slightly soon after this Bible study was over.  When the inheritance was finally resolved after both of my parents passed away, we almost got out of debt.  The remaining payments were easier to manage, and we got completely out of debt when I got my severance check three years later.  After a couple of contract jobs, I decided that I was retired.  I had been writing, but then I started getting serious about it, and this blogsite became the result after God pointed me in this direction.

And we gave God all the glory.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory