Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

• Psalm 37:4

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

• Matthew 22:36-40

The Boilerplate

My wife started to write her thoughts down at one point in her life.  Some hints point to 2018 and 2019, after she had her open-heart surgery.  In spite of her trials and the atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) that required her to take blood thinners, this was before her major health decline.

Sometimes, she wrote a thought.  Other times, she wrote a Bible verse, and maybe her idea on that day.  Other times, it is a prayer, but I am going to take one entry at a time and try to write about it

Her comment

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”

• My wife’s next comment in this notebook

The Discussion

I finally cracked the code.  My wife wrote a note saying “52 Bible Verses.”  This is the title of a book that is buried in a plastic tub of other books, probably.  The author is anonymous, but as I remember the verses, it was one verse per page in a large font.  No added words.  With there being 52 verses, the idea was to ponder one verse each week all year and hopefully have all fifty-two verses memorized by the end of the year.  And it seems the anonymous author’s favorite Bible translation is the CSB (Christian Standard Bible).

My wife and I discussed this verse often.  The prosperity gospel people focus on the second half of the verse while either ignoring the first half of the verse or misunderstanding it.

If we delight in the Lord, what does that mean?

Maybe we should look at the greatest commandment.  When we do not know the meaning of a word, we look it up in the dictionary.  When there is more than one definition, we look at the word’s usage and context to figure out which definition fits.  With something in the Bible, why not look at words that are directly attributable to God for the definition, usage, and context?

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  The Mark telling of this verse adds “strength” to that.  What’s left?  Nothing.  So, how can we love our neighbor, even our wife and children, if we have loved God with everything that we have?  That is where God giving us our heart’s desires comes in.  If God is what we love with everything, then we get God’s love in return.  And with this added love, that only comes when we love God with everything of our being, is God’s perfect love.  That is, if it is done right.

My wife would agree with that but then add that life would be easier if we had enough cash to travel to Texas and visit her sisters, and the time off so that I could go with her.

But this is the failure that humans have in this.  It is like adding works to salvation.  Salvation is by Grace through faith and not of works, but one denomination adds baptism as a salvation requirement, another speaking in tongues, another taking communion, and on and on.  We cannot be saved by a faith plus system.  That is why Paul argues against circumcision being a requirement for the Gentiles.  I have written into my fictional stories that Pink Lady Apple Yeggs says that once you say the salvation prayer, God has already done the work of salvation in your heart.  You are just affirming it.  No works at all.  But in the concept of our delight being the Lord, it does not work to say we delight in the Lord plus anything else.

If we delight in the Lord plus anything else, we are not loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

And as for that trip to Texas, we always managed to have enough or enough to pay off the debt.  God knows what we need, and He knew what made my wife tick.  I rarely went with her, but we managed having her go alone enough for her to keep her “loving the family” juices going.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory