The power of repetition. Daily Devotional - January 23, 2010

Daily Bible Reading: Genesis 24, Matthew 23, Nehemiah 13, Acts 23.

As I was reading Genesis 24, I noticed that the same wording is repeated a couple times. For instance, the servant repeats his actions and the instructions from Abraham to Rebekah's family. The writer of Genesis could have just said "and the servant told the family all of the events that took place" and called it a day, right? If you've been reading with us during the devotional, you'll notice this trend throughout the book of Genesis (and plenty of other books for that matter). I like to think of myself as a busy guy and sometimes I think to myself "wow, they could have saved a ton of time just saying it once, why did they repeat that same event 4-5 times?"

It has been said that "repetition is the mother of all learning". Math, military, spelling or sports, once you have repeated something enough times, you can instinctively react. When I used to wrestle, we used to repeat the same couple of moves before, during and after practice until we were able to react with the movement with out thinking. I didn't know a lot of different moves, but the moves I did know were executed with out fail and almost immediately...which lead to many victories.

I've noticed that regardless of what situation I am in, whether I am seeking counsel, advice, forgiveness or just God's presence, whenever I begin to repeat the majesties of God, something just clicks. I repeat the amazing things God has done in my life, the amazing things I am believing him to do and the things that He has done that I don't see...without fail, He shows up, and my circumstances seem to just fade.

I'm not sure of the circumstances that you face today, but press in today repeating the mercies and miracles God has done in your life so when you are asked why you have hope, you'll be able ready to give a reason.

On the brink,
Daniel France