Learning Through Rerun

May 10, 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 26-27 and Mark 4

There is nothing I hate more than a rerun. I honestly don’t think they even show them anymore, because television has such a short shelf-life these days. I remember that the children of 1955 in Back to the Future had never seen a rerun before, but during the summertime when I was a child reruns were all over TV.

The weirdest thing is when I would watch this one episode of a show during non-rerun season, and think “I’ll have to catch this show some other time”. Then, during rerun season, I have time to watch the show, and what do you know, it is the rerun of the episode I had already watched. What are the odds of that?

Indeed, what are the odds that David will be at a place where he has the king’s life in his hands. I mean, what if he thought that “God is again put me in this situation. I really am the Lord’s anointed, and I somewhat regret not killing him the first time. Maybe I’m supposed to do this?”

In fact, the situation is so much like a rerun, I can’t help but wonder if the author of the book did a “cut and paste”, and then change a few of the minor details. It reminds me of those puzzles you see in the paper with the two pictures that look identical, but there are about six differences.

I think it is good that given the same situation, David does the same thing. However, Saul does the same thing, which is cause for alarm.

You see, no one should ever have to repent twice. If you quit, once is enough. David makes a sudden realization that Saul will eventually hunt him down and kill him. It is only a matter of time.

It just goes to show you that you can learn something by repetition. In fact, it really is the only way we learn, sorry to say. The problem is we feel that we are stuck in a rut, doomed to repeat certain actions over and over.

We are not put on this Earth for that. We are here to keep a progressive story going, not repeat one over and over again. If you find yourself stuck in some sort of rerun, then it is time to do something different and change the plotline.

It isn’t good to live life like you are Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day. There is a pattern to life, but if you want it changed, do something! Learn from repetition.