Friday the 13th?

I have a friend who is a resident doctor in a hospital in Manila, assigned to the Pedia section, who posted this in her facebook wall:  “Thank God it's Friday the thirteenth! No one wants to give birth. No scheduled c-sections and the mommies are trying to hold the babies in until this day passes”.  It was a day of rest for her, while for the superstitious it was a tense day holding the babies from coming out, for fear that bad luck would befall their babies, or them, because they gave birth on Friday the 13th!

Being superstitious is actually as tiring as those soon to be mothers trying to hold back their babies.  If you think a certain day will bring “bad luck”, then you end up being tense, always on the look out for something bad to happen.  A superstitious person tires himself/herself into making sure she does things correctly, or positions rooms and tables correctly, or whatever else he has to do, just to make sure things go his way.  It’s tiring, tense, stressful.  Why not just sit back, relax, and leave the whole day – your whole life, in the hands of a sovereign and loving God.

That’s why I’m not superstitious.  Not because it’s not allowed in our church or religion, but because there is no room for superstition in a heart that puts its trust in a sovereign and loving God.

Being sovereign means that you are in control.  It’s hard to live in a life that is controlled by chance, or by “fate”.  It is more comforting to know that your life is in the hand of Someone who is in control.  Just take a look at the whole Bible.  From Genesis to Revelation notice the control, the hold, of God in the lives of His people – Israel and the Church.  Even if bad things did happen, eventually everything else fell into place.  There is a peace that fills the heart of someone who trusts in a God who has everything planned.

Even in our personal lives God works the same way.  Look what it says in Psalm 139:

Psa 139:13-16  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,16  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Check out the last verse – ALL the days ordained for me WERE WRITTEN IN YOUR BOOK BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE!  Talk about control!  What will happen tomorrow, next week, next month, has already been written!

So what about those bad days, the not so nice circumstances that come our way – does God actually want those things to happen to us?

Rom 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

He causes ALL THINGS, good and not so good, to work together FOR GOOD.  That’s how loving God is.  He will mix all circumstances, the sweet and sour, salty and bland, and make sure that it all comes out for our good!  Now that’s a loving God!  He is wise enough to know that trials and hardships also work for our good, and loving enough to make sure they all end up for our good.  At least for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  Instead of depending on good luck charms, practices and beliefs, why not entrust your life to God and allow Him to have His way, to work out His plan in your life?

Luck?  No such thing – for me.  Friday the 13th, black cats, feng shui, oro plata mata…don’t need them.  I have a God.  He holds my life.  He knows me by name.  Each day, each moment, is His.  I rest in Him.

Jer 17:7  "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Jer 17:8  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."