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What Does the Bible Say about Déjà Vu?
- Whitney Hopler Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- Published Dec 12, 2022
Have you ever been surprised by a feeling that you’ve experienced something before? Maybe you visited a certain place you thought was new to you, yet felt like you’d been there before. Perhaps you had a conversation with someone that unexpectedly felt familiar. That sense of already having lived through an experience – even when you thought the experience is new to you – is called déjà vu. Déjà vu experiences can have spiritual significance. What does the Bible say about déjà vu? Discovering that can help you discover spiritual wisdom from déjà vu experiences in your life.
What Is Déjà Vu?
The expression “déjà vu” is a French phrase that means “already seen.” Experiencing déjà vu means feeling like you’ve lived through something before while you’re going through it now. That happens in situations that you thought were new to you, but then are surprised by how familiar they feel to you. You may encounter déjà vu through any type of circumstances that make you feel as if you’ve somehow lived through them before. Your senses may trigger a sense of déjà vu. Whenever a sight, smell, sound, or taste leads you to think you’ve experienced it before – even though you know that you couldn’t have done so before – you’re experiencing déjà vu moments.
Déjà vu isn’t fully understood. Theories about what may cause déjà vu include:
- Memories of something similar in the past – either from your waking life, or from a dream you had while sleeping – that are triggered by a present situation
- A genuine spiritual experience that reveals connections between you and a situation
- A delusional reaction to stress
- A symptom of a medical condition (such as anxiety, epilepsy, or schizophrenia) that interferes with the ability to accurately stay centered in the present
What Does the Bible Say about Déjà Vu
The Bible doesn’t specifically mention the déjà vu. However, the Bible does contain verses that relate to the concept of déjà vu.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 describes the fact that humanity has gone through similar situations throughout history, so there is not actually anything that’s hasn’t been seen before: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 goes into detail about many different situations that cycle throughout time: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Several verses in that same chapter provide additional perspective on the fact that there is a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:11 points out that God has given all human beings a sense of eternity, and that he is working to redeem everything from all time, even though we don’t understand the full scope of his work: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” A few verses later, Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 declares: “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.” That verse highlights the reality that God is intrinsically connected to everything that happens. In light of that, it makes sense that the more you’re connected to God, the more you’ll be able to perceive connections to situations that have happened before – possibly leading you to feel déjà vu.
Several other Bible verses mention that God empowers people to prophesy, and déjà vu experiences sometimes involve prophetic moments, in which people perceive more spiritually than they normally do. Acts 2:17 reveals: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’” Jeremiah 1:5 declares: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Finally, 2 Peter 1:21 explains: “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
In John 14:26, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will speak to believers, reminding them of important spiritual truths: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” People can experience that happening during déjà vu moments that remind them of something important.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/splendens
What Is a Biblical View of Déjà Vu?
You can infer from the Bible verses that relate to déjà vu that it makes sense to sometimes feel like situations are familiar, because similar situations show up throughout time, and God may make you aware of your connections to various situations unexpectedly. You may not be able to figure out the specific reason why you’re experiencing déjà vu whenever you do. However, you can let the experience inspire you to seek God’s wisdom about it. You can wonder what happened, and let that spark your curiosity in ways that motivate you to seek God.
Pursuing God leads to awe, which may lead you to more déjà vu experiences, because awe can change how you perceive time. My book Wake Up to Wonder explains research that shows how awe-inspiring experiences often make people feel a sense of timelessness in the present moment. When people encountered wonder through a spiritual experience and felt awe, their perception of time changed. Their sense of time expanded, making them more aware of all that was happening around them and motivating them to pay more attention to it. During awe-inspiring experiences, people fully focused on enjoying, and learning from, their current experiences – and they slowed time down in their minds so they could do so. The heightened perception you gain from experiencing wonder can make you more aware of connections you hadn’t noticed before between you and circumstances that make you feel déjà vu. When you ponder God’s wonder, you can feel connected to every part of our family of faith – God, other believers, and our shared history across the world together. That could lead to feelings of déjà vu in any situation.
The Bible makes it clear that God performs wonders across all time. Daniel 6:26-27 points out: “… For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.” Whenever genuine déjà vu moments happen to you, they may be clues to something wonderful that God is doing in your life.
No matter how you experience déjà vu, it’s wise to pray about those experiences and ask God to give you wisdom about them. As James 1:5 advises: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” God will help you discern what your déjà vu experiences mean, and how you should respond to them.
Conclusion
The Bible doesn’t specifically mention déjà vu, but it does feature verses that relate to the concept and point you toward God’s wisdom regarding déjà vu experiences. When you feel déjà vu, that helps remind you of your deep connections to God and others throughout time. Déjà vu moments can inspire you with awe and strengthen your faith as you seek God’s guidance on their meaning.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages
