Pt.1 The Value of Repetition
-by Natalie Varrone-
For many Christians, reading parts of the Old Testament can be tedious and boring. The books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy seem to be especially dry reading. My experience reading these books was no exception. In my Bible reading, these were the books that I was the least excited to read and felt like an obligation, really just to say that I have read the whole Bible and hadn’t skipped parts. However, that all changed recently when I took a year to do a deep dive into studying the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, and found hidden treasures of wisdom that I had not expected to find.
My motivation for doing, what turned into a year-long study, was to essentially answer the question, “Why does God take three whole books talking about information that largely seems unimportant, irrelevant, and extremely redundant?” I don’t know about you, but I would often think of all the other topics that God could have chosen to have included in the Bible in the place of these books or others like them. How about a book on boundaries and what that looks like in terms of loving others? Or a book on mental health, or how government should be structured? Those topics seem much more useful to us as readers. So, I was determined to discover why God, in His ultimate wisdom, chose to spend so much writing on the topics of these three books. Here are some of the insights that I gained.
When reading, one of my main irritations with these books was how extremely repetitive the writing is. How many times can the author repeat, sometimes verbatim, the same commands and concepts? This occurred throughout all three books; it felt painful. Why had God taken up precious space in the Bible to repeat Himself so incredibly often? Over and over, and over again (read them- you’ll see what I’m talking about). Why do that when He could have inserted other nuggets of wisdom for us to learn? That was frustrating to me. I also realized that I feel this way at church sometimes. If a sermon is too repetitive for me, I become annoyed and disappointed. This especially happens during Christmas and Easter services. As a church attendee since childhood, I would think to myself, “How could they teach me anything that I don’t already know about these stories?” To be candid, those had become the most boring services to me due to what seemed to be repetitive information, especially as someone who loves to learn new things.
Then I began reading Deuteronomy, the last book of the Pentateuch. It was not until the end, that my most life-changing learning occurred. Almost all my major insights came when reading the book of Deuteronomy. Insights that I had not had in Leviticus or Numbers, although both books had already written about the same stories and concepts. It wasn’t until the final time that lightbulbs began to go off. That was a humbling realization. Similarly, thinking back to Christmas and Easter sermons, the most important spiritual concepts are often repeated. That’s part of how you know to pay extra attention. The most important concepts and those that are the most difficult for us to fully comprehend. Will we ever truly understand the depths of God’s love for us? Or His grace? Those are repeated in countless sermons and throughout the Bible, and as they should be. It taught me the value of repetition. On the surface, it is redundant. But the repetition is to initiate your thinking in deeper layers and applications each time you hear it. It’s like rewatching a movie for the second or third time and catching parts that you missed and understanding the story in greater depths. That’s where the gold is. The story of the Israelites is our story today. Freed from slavery, roaming in the wilderness, and entering the Promised Land. It’s a cycle that continues in each of our spiritual lives. But you’re not going to understand the meaning of that on the first few reads. The repetition is necessary for that depth to occur.
My other realization was about how easily we forget. I was reading about Israelites who had this very problem (over and over again). Then I started seeing it in my own spiritual life. I keep a journal and it always amazes me when I reread it, that what I learned a month ago in terms of a life lesson, I have already forgotten. How many times do I forget that God is always working for my good? All I need is a new trial and I forget that truth. Or how many times do I forget to go to Him first and not act in my own strength? All I need is a new challenge to forget that lesson. I consider myself to have a strong memory in most areas of life, but spiritually speaking, I am extremely forgetful. Just like the Israelites.
These books are a warning that you will forget. So, keep remembering and keep it in the forefront of your mind. If you don’t remember these important principles, the stakes will be at a high cost, as the consequences in these books describe. The teachings of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are the basis of much of what we experience in life. It deserves to be repeated. Looking back, if I’m becoming irritated with repetition, that means I’m missing the deeper points and not applying it to my current life circumstances (that are ever changing) to the extent that’s needed. There is a reason that God has repeated these concepts and a reason that pastors do as well. If you’re not repeating it, you’re not doing it right. And in pride, we may think we already know or have nothing more to learn from it. There are layers to God and His teachings. The message of the Bible is both wonderfully simple and awfully complex. If God is painfully repeating something to you, either through His Word or through His body/church, there is a necessary reason for it.
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