The New Refrigerator

I had mentioned in another blog post how we had qualified for our local gas and electric company’s Energy Assistance Program.  Well, today is the day when they will be delivering our new refrigerator.  In fact, I am waiting for the delivery company to be knocking on my door at any time now.  The certainty of a new refrigerator meant that I had to clean out the old one.  I wasn’t too certain about what I was going to find in the dark, dank far back reaches of the old one.  I have tried to go through it on a somewhat regular basis, but I had a premonition that I might just find a surprise or two!

I spent some time on Monday going through everything in the fridge including the containerized food items.  Everything was going pretty smoothly until I got to the back of the second shelf that is partially hidden by the meat tray.  Then, I found a few… okay… more than a few… containers that I had totally forgotten!  As I pulled them out and stacked them next to the sink with the disposal, I built up my courage to open them up!  And… PHEW!  Courage and a strong stomach it took!  Without going into all the morbid details, what presented itself to my eyes and nose was a multicolored (mostly black) array of moldy food.  Most of it was fairly undefinable, except for the leftover pork chop that I had cooked in a sauce of chopped tomatoes and zucchini. It actually looked pretty good and I was sorry that I had forgotten about it.  (I even considered… for a very short moment to take an explorative bite… but quickly thought better!)  Yesterday I spent a few hours cleaning the shelves and walls of the refrigerator and “Walla!” it now sits looking almost good as new and is ready for recycling.

As I was reading from Lamentations 3:24-25 this morning, I was reminded of our old refrigerator and how it compared to God’s Word.  And before you say it… No!  I wasn’t over-taken by the fumes of the moldy food the other day!  In this section of Old Testament scripture, the prophet Jeremiah makes the definitive statement: “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him.” (NIV)

In modern terms one could say that “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and He is good to those whose eager, earnest expectations are in Him.”  Concerning this verse, the translation notes of the Geneva Bible say that “The godly put their whole confidence in God, and therefore look for no other inheritance.”  Now in order for an individual to know what their inheritance is, they have to look at the will of the individuals that they are in line to get an inheritance from.  The same is true with Christians.  We have to look at Jesus’ will or testament in order to discern what our inheritance is, and that information is held within the pages of our Bibles.

If we don’t look at His will or do so infrequently, then we’ll forget or in some cases, never know what He has for us.  It is like that old refrigerator of ours.  There were items in there that I had totally forgotten about… and the longer they sat on the shelf, the deeper they were pushed to the back and the thicker the mold grew!

The Word needs to stay fresh in our hearts just as Jeremiah alludes to in verse 25.  The word that is translated “hope” actually means “to expect, to look eagerly for.” (Strong’s and Thayer’s)  Something that you are eagerly expecting is fresh and in the forefront of your thoughts.  When that freshness begins to go, your expectation of that particular Word of God’s promise tends to grow old and is pushed to the back of your mind where it begins to mold.

When I opened up our old refrigerator this morning, it was bright and clean and the food that was left on its shelves was fresh and ready for healthy and enjoyable consumption.  That’s how the Word that we are standing in faith on for my wife’s total and complete healing is.  It is daily refreshed, crisp and clear and continually at the very forefront of our thoughts.

I remember the intern Pastor’s first sermon at the beginning of our new church that was still meeting in our living room years back, when he went around the room and asked each of us if we were standing in faith for something.  I was surprised when only about a third of the excited and hungry-for-more of God Christians in the room answered in the affirmative.  He stated that if you’re not actively in faith for something that your faith was probably a little stale!  When one has strong and current faith for something, then they will have that eager, earnest expectation of God’s Word working in their lives.  It’s like opening our new refrigerator (that just was delivered!) and always finding fresh, delicious food to devour!

How fresh is your faith today?  Do you have any hidden containers with mold lurking in the back of your life?  Today would be a great day to clean out the old and replace it with the fresh, new and healthy Word of promise from God.  Wouldn’t you agree?  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… What am I expecting TO FIND IN ME today?