A few years ago, my refrigerator died. My new one has ice and water in the door and an electronic panel that lets you choose the size of your ice cubes. Recently, my refrigerator started freezing things. As an empty nester, it is not getting opened as often, and I decided maybe it was set to a temperature that was too cold. I have looked multiple times for the little dial to adjust the temperature. Checking both the refrigerator and the freezer to no avail. Today as I filled my water bottle, I thought, you know, I really have to take the time to look at the book for this refrigerator and figure out how to adjust the temperature. Just then I saw it—on that electric panel, I saw the words “Temp hold for 3 seconds.” My first thought was, “You have got to be kidding me; it was literally right in front of me,” and my second thought was, “God, I think you have a lesson for me here.”
The first lesson to consider is: how often am I looking back at the past and missing the new thing God has for me now? I was looking everywhere for that little dial my old refrigerator had and not seeing the new thing right in front of me that really is better. Am I so intent on the past or the old way things were done that I am missing what God has right in front of me if I just open my eyes and look?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18″
The second lesson is that I couldn’t adjust the temperature because I was looking for what I thought the “dial” should look like rather than what the designer of the refrigerator created. When I am reading His word, am I looking for what I want it to say, or am I reading to understand what the true author intended? The Israelites longed for a Messiah, but they did not recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies because Jesus did not fit their idea of what the Messiah would look like, where he would come from, or what he would do. They did not understand that God was not limiting Himself to saving them from Roman oppression but had a much grander plan than they could even imagine—A plan that would include salvation for the whole world, for whosoever would believe. (John 3:16-18)
YHWH, thank you that your plan included a “whosover” like me! May I open my eyes to see and my ears to hear, and may I seek YOU with all my heart. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). As I seek you through your word, I pray that you will give me wisdom to understand and a willingness to see what you would have me see. Help me not be so intent on what I expect that I get tunnel vision and fail to see what You, the Creator of the universe, have placed right in front of me.
Carole McGraff
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Carole grew up in the South Carolina Lowcountry and was raised in church but did not read the bible through for the first time until 2019. In 2021 she found Seeking Scripture through a friend and has been reading along with the Porch Family ever since. Carole loves the beach, sea turtles, art, Bible journaling, her friends, her two pups Willow and Zoe, her family, and most of all YHWH.
Carole and her late husband Brian were blessed to serve as campground summer chaplains at Hunting Island State Park for 5 years where she learned that if God calls you to it, he will equip you for it. Carole enjoys sharing her love of bible journaling and all the mighty ways God has worked and is working in her life.
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