Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

• 1 Kings 8:27-30

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

• Matthew 6:6-8

But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

• Luke 1:13

Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

• Acts 10:30-33

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

• Hebrews 5:7-10

On the day that I wrote this, I had answers to a “silly” prayer immediately.  That’s when I thought to write this, something whimsical.  But then, a few short hours later, whimsey went out the window as I was desperately praying for the life of my brother-in-law, I had this feeling about what I needed to do if he passed away, and almost at that same moment, my niece texted that he had passed.

God hears our prayers.  I had two checks coming in the mail.  I was dressed, having gone to the pharmacy earlier.  I didn’t want to “waste” being ready to go somewhere.  An hour later, one of the checks was in the mail.  I praised the Lord, for He had heard me and granted my request.  On my way to the credit union to deposit the check, I even went past the national cemetery where my wife’s ashes are interred.  The Christmas wreaths were stacked in readiness, but they had not been placed on the graves yet.

A few hours later, my niece, who was staying at my brother-in-law’s side at the hospital while my sister could not.  Having mobility issues, my sister was left at home, possibly alone.  My brother-in-law’s kidneys were shutting down and they fixed the catheters to do dialysis.  They thought that if they could clean the blood, some of his other issues would not be as bad.

About two weeks before, he had fallen.  He had a brain bleed, but as they fixed one thing, another got worse, and his blood pressure was erratic.  As I read what was going on through my niece’s texts, it reminded me of so many people that I loved who were the rock that everyone leaned on one day, until everything fell apart.  My wife’s collapse was slow, over a few years, but once one vital organ begins to fail, the others follow.  It was the same thing, just happening rapidly.  Then the next text showed he went into ventricular fibrillation as soon as they started dialysis.  They immediately stopped and tried to get his heart rhythm straight.

I dropped everything and started praying earnestly.

I prayed, while the thoughts of a permanent healing was going through my mind.  Then, as I listened to that voice saying that passing to the other side was possibly the best answer, I got the text that he was gone.  I had been praying fervently for about an hour, struggling with which answer to the prayer was the best.

As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, the Father already knows what the answer is.  He already knows what we will ask for.  He simply wants us to acknowledge that, and talk to Him.

I’m reminded of the missionary that prayed for a hot water bottle, at the behest of a young girl, I think.  The next day, just in time, the hot water bottle arrived, and a life was saved.  But that hot water bottle was thrown into the box simply because the people packing the box had room and they threw it in on an impulse – many weeks before the package arrived – many weeks before the hot water bottle was needed and before the prayers were offered.

God knows.  God has everything in His plan.  My sister will grieve, but she has, for one reason or another, a daughter, a granddaughter, and a great granddaughter all living with her.  But if she is like me, the reality hits the hardest when you are alone with your thoughts.  In those times, you need to know that God hears your prayers.

You are not alone.  If you love the Lord, you will never be alone.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.