Repeat & Rerun
There are times that I will watch a movie again that I’ve seen before and the second time through, I see all sorts of details that I missed the first time. There are also times when I have this “déjà vu” moment when I feel like I’ve been here before and had a very similar experience. I usually view repeat and rerun as negative because I don’t want to make the same mistake twice or I’ve been there and done that. When I take a closer look at my life, I realize that there are lots of activities that I do all the time and way more than once or twice. Repeat and rerun are still teaching moments if I will pay attention.
The people of Israel had an experience similar to one before. The Lord had the priests march into the Jordan river (when it was at flood stage) and the flow of water was stopped and the nation of Israel walked through on dry ground. The Lord directed them to take 12 stones from the center of the river and make a memorial so that they wouldn’t forget this experience. Check this out…
19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. 21 He said to the Israelites, ‘In the future when your descendants ask their parents, “What do these stones mean?” 22 tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.” 23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.’ (Joshua 4:19-24 NIV)
As I read this passage, I realized that there were some differences but also some similarities to the crossing of the Red Sea some 40+ years earlier.
- This was a river (at flood stage) where water flows, the Red Sea was more of a still body of water.
- This was a whole new group of Israelites – the others had died in the desert. Joshua and Caleb were the only two out of a million+ who had crossed both the Red Sea & The Jordan River on dry land.
- The Lord had them to set up a memorial to this event. He wanted them to have talking points with their children and a place for His people to visit on vacation to tell this story with their children.
There are times when an event is so significant; it is worth a memorial at some level. Our nation has memorials all over the place and even though I wasn’t able to live out the experience, I can connect with it. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. and that city is full of significant memorials to men and women who made our country great. The memorials all tell a story.
Even though this experience of crossing the Jordan was not the same for the people of Israel as the crossing of the Red Sea – the experience was a similar miracle. Both situations involved the mighty hand of God. He showed up and showed out! I want to learn from my journey today lessons that I’m still ok if He teaches them to me again tomorrow. I think for the remaining balance of my life, I will need to be reminded (over and over again) of the Lord’s Power and Presence in my everyday life.
Pressing On!
Dwayne