Repetition Has Value

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 

Matthew 15:36-38 (NIV)

While many who study Scripture have tried to suggest that the feeding of the 4,000 is the exact same episode as the account which numbers the people at 5,000, it is crystal clear to me that these two incidents are totally different.

In this instance, the supply came from seven loaves and a few small fish, not five loaves and two fish. Here, the leftovers filled twelve baskets. In the other instance, only seven basketfuls of fragments remained.

I think these details are given to us because God must want us to notice that these are two different—yet repetitive—events. Why? Why would God repeat such a similar narrative?

It appears to me that God is teaching us that repetition is powerful for our learning about Him, about us, and about God's purposes in and for our lives.

I have sometimes wondered about—and have also counseled many who struggle with—the repeated experiences of life. The things that seem to keep happening. The hurts that keep resurfacing from certain toxic interactions. The haunting thoughts that follow us no matter how elevated our positions in life. The cycles we thought we had broken. The decisions we keep making. The resulting stresses and strains that often come from them.

When you follow Jesus, you wonder in faith why God heals some things but lets others repeat themselves over and over again. Why does God bring total resolve to some things while letting other things keep revisiting us?

What is the spiritual value of experiential repetition?

I declare to you that we don't ever go through repetitive experiences where God has not attached spiritual meaning to them. He attaches purpose to each and every one of them.

So don't let the struggle of it, nor the familiarity with it, make you ignore it or take it for granted. I know it's not easy when the pain of the last cycle greets you again in the current cycle. You may not feel like you have the energy or the stamina or the faith or the spiritual fortitude to repeat a season. But I'm suggesting to you that God sometimes allows repetitive experiences and conditions and interactions and altercations and thoughts and experiences for this reason: They are necessary for shaping you into the person He wants you to be.

Some of the most important lessons we learn in life are learned through repetition.