Without a doubt, the world in which we live is marked by circles. The sun—and by definition the whole solar system—orbits around the center of the Milky Way. Meanwhile, the earth revolves around the sun and the moon around the earth. So we have circles circling around circles, which in turn revolve endlessly around a whirling axis. It follows that our body is unceasingly twirling in an expanding universe, a universe made of atoms that function as our solar system does, i.e., with particles going round in circles.
A circular life
Likewise, our lives turn around in continuous recurrences. So, we find ourselves repeating what we have done a thousand times before: We go to bed time and again; get up as often; dress-up at least once a day; and put our shoes on 365 times a year if not more. We eat and eat again, knowing that we will continue to do so until we die. We go to work, come back from work, only to return to the same place the day after. It is circles on circles, day after day and year after year. The preacher could not have put it any better when he wrote:
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor; man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after” (Ecclesiastes 1:1–11)
And again:
“That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
Obviously, some repetitions are more frequent than others, but all of them have one thing in common: the experience and knowledge acquired during previous repetitions can be applied mechanically and effectively in subsequent repetitions. So we learn to tie our shoes in a very young age, at first quite badly, but after a few years we become absolute experts. The same is true about opening jars or tying a tie. Now, I am not saying that everything in the natural life is repetitious, but surely most of it is.
The life acquired through the second birth
In contrast, the Life we have received through the Spirit is mostly marked by unprecedented events. It leads us on a road we have never trodden before. If the natural life is mostly circular, i.e., revolving around a predictable pattern, the spiritual life is characterized by a linear evolvement made of unpredictable events.
There is a passage found in the Book of Joshua which typifies that concept beautifully:
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:1–4).
Here the officers make clear that the people were not supposed to move on their own. They were told to wait for the ark of the covenant to move first. Interestingly, they were also instructed to leave a space between them and the ark, approximately one kilometer (0.6 mile).
There is much for us to learn here. How many times are we tempted to make a move before God has done a single step? And how many times—in our impatience—do we overtake Him as if He would not know the importance of time? This sort of spiritual frenzy is twice foolish. First, because we don’t even know were we are going, i.e., we have not passed this way before; and secondly, because without Him we can do nothing.
It reminds me of an experience I had with my wife some years ago. We were going to get our daughter from the bus station in Seville. Usually I am the one driving the car but for that occasion my wife was at the steering wheel. She dropped me in the front of the bus station and went on to find a parking place. After sometime she joined me and soon after our daughter arrived. After a few minutes we started to walk back to the car and my two ladies were talking and strolling rather calmly—which is not exactly my style of walking. At one point I found myself hastening ahead of them only to realize I didn’t know were the car was parked.
Unfortunately, this sort of nonsense is common in our spiritual journey. We walk as one knowing the way, only to discover we have lost precious time, or worse, trekked headlong into a blunder. The charge is still valid today: “Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”
The people of Israel
When the officers gave these directions, the people of Israel had wandered in the wilderness for a very long time. During these decades they had acquired useful and practical knowledge. Their experience and knowledge had great value in the realm in which they could be applied, i.e., in times of recurrences, but when it came to direction they were of no help. God was their only hope.
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