The Power of Repetition
How many times do you need to hear something before it sticks?
Verse of the Day
‘The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.’
Today’s Devotional
I had an interesting thing happen to me a few days ago. My husband was out of town for several days. Over those few evenings, I was catching up on a “chick” show that my hubby will not watch with me. I’m going to guess that I watched six to eight episodes over the few days. I was able to see these old episodes on one of the streaming services, but there was no way of avoiding the commercials. But I powered through. Every commercial break had the same few commercials. So I probably saw the same batch of commercials around thirty times each. Thirty times! And it took all thirty times before I even realized what one of the commercials was for. I heard the commercial all thirty times. But I did not pay attention. Have you ever heard something over and over and over until one day it finally clicks?
I had this moment when I realized this when I felt like God was saying, “Now do you see why I repeat things?” I believe God knows that we need to hear things many times before we will understand them, before they will “click” and the light bulb of understanding comes on.
When doing research on verses before I start writing on a certain topic, I look to see how many verses I can find about that topic. The easiest search that revealed the most verses was my search on strength. And power. And all of the verses have one thing in common:
God is the source of strength.
I’m not sure how many more times I am going to need to hear it, read it, and dwell on it before it truly sinks into my brain. Strength and power come from God alone. Read today’s verse again.
The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.
I need strength to live my life in this broken world. I long for peace as I live my life in this broken world. Both of those things come directly from God. So I need to stand close to Him. I need to orient my day around spending time with Him. I need to talk to people who know Him better that I do and learn from them. I need to read His Word. I need to talk to Him. I need to learn to listen. And I need to be grateful to Him, because every good and perfect gift comes from Him, not just strength and peace.
There are many things that are repeated in the Bible. All of those are worth our attention. Today, let’s remember that God repeats this message many, many times in His Word. The Lord gives strength to his people.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How clear are you on the fact that all your strength comes from God?
How can you “stand close” to God today?
How can you give God more of your time?
Who’s relationship with God do you admire? Reach out to that person.
How can you thank God for the strength that you do have?
What other messages is God repeating to you?