Today is one of those days that happen every so often that even believing Christians joke about. Today is Friday the 13th and the term for the fear of today is paraskavedekatriaphobia.
This phobia is an ancient fear, going back to pre-Roman times and is a combination of concerns. The first is over the number 13, which is one past 12, the number of completeness. Therefore 13 breaks completeness and inserts chaos. Friday is the last day of the work week in ancient Judaism and marked the end of the weekly cycle, Saturday being a day of rest. As a result Friday marked the end of things. Put them together and you get the end of things compounded by the insertion of chaos.
While there is no scientific or religious (at least in the world’s major religions) reason for treating this day different than any other, that doesn’t stop a large portion of the world’s population from having problems when Friday falls on the 13th day of the month. There is ingrained in all of us, in some part of our old man (for the born-again Christians amongst us), a spiritual sensitivity that often finds its expression in superstition. That hole, that need, must be filled with something and when God does not properly fill that place designed for him, then many other things find their way into that space.
The real answer to paraskavedekatriaphobia is Jesus Christ, filling that spiritual hole with the proper peg. So Christian, take advantage of the phobia running rampant today to witness to the true solution.
As an aside, I also requested a squad of warrior angels to guard my wife and daughter today, just in case there were a few crazies co-opted by our enemy as guided missiles to bad intent. Doesn’t hurt to up the defenses when the world around you is a little crazy.
I know how that might sound to some of you, but on two occasions I have seen what must have been angels around me and my family. No one but me could see them, but they were there and I wasn’t hallucinating.
Grace and peace to your day and may God grant you an opportunity to use the day to his honor and glory.