Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.

• Exodus 35:20-21

“That evening in St. George’s, prayers ascended to heaven for people’s hearts to be stirred so that everyone whose spirit was willing might provide for the cause for their naked, sick, and starving army in the snows of Valley Forge.
“Among the worshippers that night was Robert Morris, a Philadelphia businessman who had migrated from Liverpool in 1747 to be an apprentice at a shipping and banking firm. Over the years, he had become a prosperous merchant and an advocate of the Revolution. As a member of the Continental Congress, he had signed the Declaration of Independence.
“As Morris prayed that evening, a conviction came over him. His own heart must be willing, and he must act at once. Getting up and leaving the service, he went door-to-door waking his wealthy friends and telling them he had just come from the prayer service and their help was desperately needed to keep the cause alive. Within hours Morris had convinced Philadelphia’s richest men and women to donate large amounts of their fortunes to the freezing soldiers of Washington’s army, and within hours the General learned he would have the provisions he needed.
“’Morris, with his extensive international fortune, had been able to secure funds through his own personal credit that the fledgling Continental government could not. Washington, exasperated by the states’ inability or unwillingness to support his rabble army, came to view Morris as the sole force keeping his troops on the field.’
“The all-night prayers at the Methodist church were answered, and the Revolution Army got their provisions from heaven through Robert Morris.”

• Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America

In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games.  One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan.  As we approach the 250^th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.

First, this Methodist church had an all night prayer vigil and they did not have a problem putting people in pews.  I doubt if that would happen now, but it is pathetic when it takes really bad news before people will turn to God.  I know it in my own life at times.  I know it in church life and in the life of our nation.  The USA filled the churches after the 9/11 attacks, but six weeks later the churches were back to being half empty.  But even so, there are some people who have not stopped praying ever since.

One of those people at this church was Robert Morris.  He and Roger Sherman are the only founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of the Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution.  He was the Superintendent of Finance for four years, during the Confederation, replaced by Alexander Hamilton when the position became the Secretary of the Treasury.  George Washington offered him the position, but he turned it down, personally suggesting Hamilton as his successor.

But Morris was also one of the first people released from debtors’ prison when the Bankruptcy Act of 1800 was signed into law.  He had partnered with a couple of other people in land development speculation.  They depended on foreign banks for their loans, and money failed to flow when those countries were troubled by wars of their own.

Even good people can make mistakes.

But picture this man in 1777.  The Continental Army is starving and dying of disease at Valley Forge, just 20 miles away.  The British have Philadelphia under martial law as an occupied city.  And this rich businessman knocks on your door and begs for money to save the cause for freedom.

Prayer works, and the Holy Spirit can work in mysterious ways.  I would think that a knock on the door in the middle of the night was a British raiding party, ready to do me harm.

Yet, Robert Morris prayed on his knees, and the Holy Spirit had other plans.  The Holy Spirit wanted Robert Morris to pray on his feet, and with his hands, as he knocked on the doors of every rich person in town.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.