Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, wants to read about how younger people, especially couples respond to what the Bible says.  And she wants to know how God is at work at Lily the Pink.

I skipped the “green room’, Aunt Pink and Aunt Gwen’s restroom outside the den where the Sunday school class was now held.

The Turtle team was back on the road, except for me and Dr. Ben, who wasn’t really part of the core.  He was an extra.  But besides missing B.B., Home Wrecker, Amazon, Skinny, and my Easy, Emmett, Sophie, and Blaise were gone, not allowed to say where they were going.  With Elroy and Irusya gone with them, it was suspicious.  But Angus, Missy, Menzie, Samuel, Lauren, and Sammie have been gone for a while.

When I came into the den, Arabella said, “I was coming to the green room to help you.  See!  I even have scissors!”

I lifted up a quick prayer, “Lord, thank you for guiding me in skipping the green room this morning.”

Arabella huffed, “It was just a joke, Aunt Jemima.  I wouldn’t have cut your hair.  …  At least not much.”  She giggled and shrunk her head between her shoulders.

I snickered, “Okay, Belle.  I missed not having the girl talk this past week, too.  We are going to have to do those through zoom.  I wonder how B.B. can handle that?”

Arabella, still giggling, “That’s a great idea.  The TV show would have even more camera angles.”

At least Joseph was here.  Joseph led us in prayer.  He covered travel mercies for all those who were away.  He reminded everyone that if their prayer request status changes, he can print a new list.

Then, Darrell led his tiny group.  The lead was sung by Arabella.  At alto, there was Brooke and Mercedes Lothrop.  At tenor, Michael.  Dr. Ben sang baritone.  And Goober sang bass.  The hymn was Amazing Grace.

Darrell added, “I figgered (considered, thought about) we should sing something everybody knows, since we’re short-handed.  But even God’s Grace is a part of God’s wisdom that is beyond what we can imagine.  Why give grace to anybody in general?  Then, why me?”

I asked, “I know why, Darrell.  We needed a backup for when Emmett isn’t here.”  Darrell simply grinned.

Michael said, “Aunt Jemima, since Samuel is on vacation, he asked me to ask you, ‘What Attribute of God are we studying today?’”

I laughed, “Michael, I am going to text Samuel to tell him that you did a great job filling in.  I think you may have to ask again next week. We are studying our response to God’s Wisdom.  Do you need Mr. Dictionary, Belle?”

Arabella said, “Nope.  I remember that there is no word for omniwisdom.  God knows everything.  But when it comes to His justice, mercy, grace, and sovereignty, God’s wisdom is holy.  Okay, that’s it for God’s attributes.  I covered a bunch in one sentence.  What are we studying next week?”

I replied, “We are studying God’s sovereignty.  And just mentioning the words does not cover the topic, Belle.”

Arabella giggled, “Can’t blame me for trying.”

I snickered, “No, goofball, you are who you are.  And like me and everyone else, God is not finished with us yet.”

Arabella asked, “Goofball?  I thought I was Fireball.”

I smiled, “Oops! I made a mistake, but we need to get into God’s wisdom.  Now, who is still in this class?”

Joseph (Proverbs 2:6) “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Joseph smiled, “This kind of defines wisdom.  I get irritated when you play a silly game on your computer, and then the computer awards you with an IQ of 150, something stupid like that.  Intelligence is our ability to process and use information rapidly.  It involves cognitive skills such as problem solving, understanding complex concepts, and such.  It is not simply knowledge.  The world today wants to be wise when worldly wisdom is far from God’s wisdom.  Thus, they change the definition of wisdom to regurgitating facts, and since they think truth is relative, then facts are relative.  There is no way you can have a false fact.  It’s falsity negates it being a fact.  Call it what it is, a lie.  Umm. Sorry.  I guess I started preaching.  But the point that I get from this verse is that wisdom is knowledge and understanding.  Knowledge can come from reading a book, that is, if the book is factual instead of a pack of lies.  But understanding, from a spiritual sense, comes from God.  I can understand that Catherine’s dress is brown.  I can go to the paint store, and they can mix yellow, red, and blue paint, and instead of blue, green paint, but in the right combination it can make brown paint.  But that is the extent of earthly knowledge.  Bart over here knows and understands the laws of physics. But to see God in those bits of knowledge requires Godly understanding which comes from the Holy Spirit.”

Margie said, “Wow.  Do I still have to go to church?  I think I’ve already had a good sermon today.”

Marguerite (James 1:5) “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Margie tapped her temples and hummed.  She finally said, “I guess since my hugga bear is off saving the world, I should have been more diligent in studying these verses.  Doing a quick prayer for God to give me wisdom when I am put on the spot does not work so well, or maybe not fast enough.”

I smiled, “And in a very strange way, you have discussed that verse.  If we ask God for wisdom, God will grant us wisdom.  But if we have neglected that request until we are in a bind, God may hold back a little.  Then, our request is delayed as a test of faith.  So, to obtain wisdom from God, we have to start now, not when our lack of wisdom gets us into trouble.”

Margie wiped her forehead, “Wow!  Aunt Jemima, you did a great job of making what I said sound like wisdom, but I was just trying to tread water.”

Sally Mae (Proverbs 1:7) “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Sally Mae said, “If Pastor Joseph doesn’t mind a piggyback, this says that the world, and all the fools in it, have redefined wisdom so that they can say they have it, but deep down they hate God’s wisdom and instruction.  And this gets directly to how we should respond to God’s wisdom.  We should be humble.  We should fall on our faces before God.  Sure, God is love and He is our friend, but He is powerful too.  I don’t think God is there to rip my head off, but I should not be going up to God in prayer like I am God’s gift to the world either.  I was a stripper.  I did a lot of bad things.  Even though God forgave me of all that, His forgiveness is just one more reason to bow down and worship Him.  He knows what’s best for me.  You give me the keys to the car, and you and I both won’t have any idea where we’ll end up.”

Darrell nodded, “Yeah, Sally Mae is the love of my life, but she is directionally challenged.  If she’s driving, use the navigation tools.”

Sally Mae punched him on the arm, playfully, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”

Julia had tears in her eyes.  “Can I say something?”  I nodded, I knew she was still mourning the loss of her friend.  “I have only been working here for about two years.  Missy left on vacation, and she put me in charge.  I have the least seniority, but she thinks she sees something in me.  I don’t have a clue what she sees.  All that I know is that as soon as Missy left, Angela was murdered in an alley behind the grocery store near here.  Angela was murdered on my watch.  God knew what would happen, but I didn’t know that Angela was going to be in trouble or I would have gone with her.  Then, my brain froze when your father-in-law asked me questions.  It took threatening sending Otto to jail to thaw those memories in my brain.  But at the same time, everybody in security has been on edge.  All of us have questioned our abilities.  Then, we had an alarm go off a few days ago.  We switched the camera and there was this tall man obviously sneaking down a hallway.  He was wearing a mask and a hoodie with ‘BAD GUY’ painted on the front and back.  It was so weird!  But, we responded according to our training.  It was PawPaw, Mommie Pinkie’s father.  He threw up his hands and said, ‘You got me, copper.’ Or he’d say something like the fuzz is onto me.  He’s done that every night since then.  I know Ash Apple has not been a Christian for long, but he has wisdom beyond measure.  Our confidence in our abilities has been restored.  We miss Angela.  We still mourn for her loss.  But we are focused on our job again.  We focus on our procedures that Cassie taught them, and Missy taught me.  There’s got to be something in that about wisdom, but I just wanted everybody to know they are safe here.  The security force was more to keep the prostitutes from leaving at first, but now, we have a great treasure of God-fearing people here that deserve the best security team ever.”

Gordo put his arm around her and gave her a side hug.  Zuzka reached over and took her hand as Julia cried.

Zuzka said, “We all safe.  You do good job, Julia.”

I added, “What happened in that alley was not your fault, Julia.  You are doing a great job here.  And I think PawPaw is very wise.  He knew and understood that you and your crew needed a distraction.  And he used a distraction that tested what you are supposed to do.  So, he is teaching you that what you already know is enough.  But don’t get lax.  The next time, it might not be PawPaw.”  She nodded.

Tammie (Proverbs 9:10) “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Tammie said, “This is a lot like Sally Mae’s verse. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom.  And I guess this verse is why you are going through these attributes of God.  It says that the knowledge of God is understanding.”

I nodded, “If we don’t know who God is and how awesome God is we either have a morbid fear that keeps us from going to Him or some vague idea of a God out there somewhere that has so little interest in us that we can ignore Him.  But knowing how God loves us, and knowing all the other attributes, then we can understand why and how He is right there with us, within us, and beside us.  We can never achieve God’s wisdom, but it is a start toward that wisdom.”

Rosie (Proverbs 16:3) “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

Rosie smiled, “This is a great application verse.  It doesn’t mention wisdom, or knowledge, or understanding.  But if we let go and let God take over, He is going to give us a path to follow, and He will be with us every step of the way.”

Catherine (Proverbs 19:20) “Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.”

Catherine said, “When I have read this verse in the past, I have thought of myself as the mother of my children and that they should listen to Thomas and me, but this verse talks to Thomas and me just as much as the children.  We are all children of God, each believer.  We should accept discipline when we wander off the straight and narrow path.  And we must learn that wisdom so that we can advise and discipline our children properly, or our chickens and turkeys.”

I smiled, “Are your chickens and turkeys naughty at times?”

She nodded, “And they do not listen, but if I toss a little grain in the right direction, they can be distracted away from trouble.  When they still don’t listen, I tell the turkeys especially that they will make a fine Thanksgiving dinner for someone, but I doubt if they understand.”

I snickered, “Possibly knowledge, but I doubt that, and definitely no understanding.  And Grannie Fannie, I know you are back there.”  I lifted my Bible over my head, and someone unseen took it.

Grannie Fannie (James 3:17) “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

Grannie Fannie laughed, “You are putting me to work!  And now you are going to expect me to drive you to church?  But this says that God’s wisdom is not screwed up by man’s sinful nature.  It is pure, loving and no bias or prejudice applied to it.”

And before you say what you came to say, I will read the last one (Romans 11:33) “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

I said, “God’s judgments may be unsearchable, but the more we go in that direction, the better off we will be.  Now, Grannie Fannie, say what you came here to say.”

I heard a voice behind me, “Mommie!  The buses!”

Then Grannie Fannie returned my Bible and laughed.

I smiled, “As we have been doing, let’s end with the Mizpah benediction.  Everyone, bow your heads in prayer.  “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.’” (Genesis 31:49b)

Brooke came over and picked up Stormie’s carrier and went with me to the bus.  She looked into the carrier, “Hi, Stormie, it’s me, Aunt Brooke.”

And Goober leaned over her shoulder, “And don’t forget Uncle Goober.”  Stormie just laughed and smiled at them.

Credits

I am now starting to use the David E. Fessenden study guides for The Attributes of God, A Journey into the Father’s Heart by A.W. Tozer, in two volumes. Again, no quotations, just some Scriptures that keep the flow going.  But I will admit that I did a search on the topic and found most of the verses that I used this time.

The death of Angela was covered in this week’s installment of Deviled Yeggs Mysteries, Uncooperative Witnesses.

Here are the Petersens singing Amazing Grace.  Darrell is a strummer, but this has the right feel.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.