Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a phrase attributed to many different people and/or organizations. It does not matter from where it came, it is true today as it was in biblical times.
Pharaoh continued to resit the LORD’s demand to let the Israelite people go out of bondage. As I am reading this morning’s passage, seven plagues on Egypt have already occurred and Pharaoh is still not getting it. Moses and Aaron, at the direction of the LORD are now asking Pharaoh, when will you learn.
“3So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.”’” – Exodus 10:3 (ESV)
Those in the direct council of Pharaoh were even asking him when will you learn.
“7Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?’” – Exodus 10:7 (ESV)
Pharaoh continued to resist and do the same thing over and over again, expecting that the LORD would relent, or that the plagues were all a coincidence and that the LORD did not have a hand in any of it. Either way, Pharaoh was determined that at some point his strategy would work. He was convicted to keep the people in bondage and the cost did not matter to him.
I look at this example and work to see how it applies to me. I know that I have gone through times of doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. When Lori and I married, I decided that I “needed” Sunday’s for me and did not attend church, to play golf or some other personal indulgence. Things were okay, but once I came back to the LORD, things were better. I resisted tithing to the LORD because I “needed” the money to survive, and I was doing that, surviving, but could not get ahead. I finally began to tithe and things were better. Many more examples abound from my life. All ending in better once I did something else.
When are we going to learn? The LORD wants nothing but the best for us. It is up to me to follow Him every step of the way. When I do, I will be granted peace in the circumstance that was not there as I resisted. It may not be in that exact moment, remember that God’s timing is perfect and not aligned with mine, but I will find peace. I have to do things differently in order to get the different result.
What is your approach? Are you continuing to do the same things over and over again expecting a different result? What if you relented and listened to learn from the LORD?
Trevor's Thoughts 