A friend of mine recently sent me a meme that was a humorous way of critiquing modern worship music as being overly repetitive. While I understand the sentiment, over the years I’ve learned the importance of repetition.

When God is leading the people of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and to the freedom of the Promised land, God often asks Moses to tell the people to remember.

Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:15

It’s interesting that the people are commanded to remember this. How could they forget? And yet they do.

…you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. Isaiah 17:20

One of the benefits of repetition is it helps us remember. And God is trying to help the people remember who he is (and who they are) through this section of Isaiah.

Toward the end of Chapter 29 God reminds us he’s the potter and we are the clay.
God created us. God made us. God is greater than us but sometimes we forget that reality.

In Isaiah 28 we see a couple reminders that repetition leads to remembering.

Here’s verse 10

He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there!

And here’s verse 13

So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there…

I wonder in what ways you and I forget who God is and what God does? I wonder how you and I sometimes get confused about what is God’s role and what is my role in the day to day living of my life? And I wonder what line God wants us to repeat over and over to help us remember?

Questions for reflection:

  1. Think of a time in your life when you know God acted. How does remembering the work of God impact your faith?
  2. When we celebrate communion, we eat the bread, and drink from the cup “in remembrance of me.” What do you think about when you remember the work of Jesus on the cross?
  3. Can you think of any situations in life when you are tempted to play God; to act like you’re the potter rather than the clay? Why do you suppose it’s so easy for us to take matters into our own hands rather than trusting God’s timing and waiting for God to act?