Why Bad Things Seem To Happen In Threes
Why Bad Things Seem to “Happen in Threes”
New geothermal system does not work, and installers cannot seem to figure out what’s wrong. Septic aerator pump dies. Tax files get lost in an online portal – twice! Three frustrating things right in a row. When I was younger, I often heard the phrase repeated, “Bad things happen in threes”, as if there was some anti-trinitarian formula of wickedness that besets us from time to time. On the one hand, empirical evidence and experience demonstrates some truth to this; it does seem like “bad luck” occurs on a sequential string. On the other hand, there are plenty of times when just ONE bad thing happens, or worse, four or five in a row! In other words, as Christians we cannot and should not “keep score” assuming more evil is to follow after one or two things happen, or no more is to come for a time after three.
When I expressed my displeasure at what was happening at the Hromowyk household the week after Easter to Vicar Mars, he replied, “Why does everything seem to break in waves?” My response to Vicar was, “That’s the nature of war and we are always in a spiritual battle!” The point of this month’s Newsletter Article is to flesh out his rhetorical question and explain my response.
Spiritual warfare is a constant threat and reality, even though we are most often oblivious to it. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). When a physical conflict takes place, we experience it with our eyes, ears, and all our senses. Many times with spiritual conflict, however, we are unaware. Some of the devil’s attacks are almost unnoticeable. Temptations to doubt the truth of God’s Word, for example, can be as subtle as what the old serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say?...” (Gen 3:1). On the other hand, when things seem to “break in waves” to use the Vicar’s words, they are much more tangible. We feel the anxiety and stress to fix them as soon as possible. My septic tank, for example, is a ticking time bomb. Every minute the pump is not pumping is another minute when oxygen is not circulating in the water, killing the healthy bacteria that decompose waste. As noxious gases and waste increase so does the likelihood of a total system failure – a huge expense. What does the Christian do when full of anxiety or stress? I’ll tell you what the sinful flesh does. It fears, love, and trusts in itself, time, money, etc., instead of the one true God. To cope with stress the sinful flesh is tempted to over eat (gluttony). It’s tempted to do nothing at all, which the avoidance of resolving a problem is the sin of acedia, often translated as “slothfulness.” I, for one, get very irritable and agitated when stressed out, so I often am plagued by wrath. I also try not to spend too much money to fix things, which is often a symptom of greed. In four sentences I just identified four of the seven deadly sins.
The point is the devil uses these stressors to tempt us to “false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice” (Lord’s Prayer, 6th petition). This is spiritual warfare. The reason why we often perceive “bad things happening in threes” is because just as when one side in a war attacks their enemy on different fronts at the same time, so also the devil often attacks us the same way. If just my pump broke, for example, I could focus on this one thing, get it fixed, and get back to normal life. But when more than one thing is going on at a time, it’s like when a military unit gets attacked from the air, in front of them, and gets flanked on either side. Spiritually, this is the feeling of “being overwhelmed.” We all know this experience far too well. This is when the Christian is most susceptible to temptation.
So what does the Christian do? First, we pray that the Lord would lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (Lord’s Prayer). Second, we commend ourselves to God (Ps 31:5), asking for help to navigate the tumultuous seas, and trusting His holy angels to be with us that the evil foe have no power over us (Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers). Finally, we confess the Creed, learning to trust that our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier is faithful, and “will not let (us) be tempted beyond what (we) can bear” (1 Cor 10:13).
When you feel overwhelmed, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10) as our Lord says. The warfare will soon be ended. As Christ calmed the wind and stormy seas with a simple rebuke of His Word (Mk 4:39), so also all the failings and frustrations of life in this fallen world will soon cease. Christ has the victory. “The strife is o’er, the battle done” as we sing in the Easter hymn. Be still, and patiently and joyfully wait for His returning. It is coming soon, because Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
In Christ,
Pastor Hromowyk