Good Luck Charms

In western culture, if you find or own a four-leaf clover it means that you’ll have good luck.

My mother must be quintuply lucky, because on one afternoon she found five of them in her backyard. Please note, my mother is not superstitious, she just has exceptionally good eyesight for her age.

And no. Her backyard is nowhere near a thermonuclear reactor site. Radioactive waste has not leached into the soil.

Though, it’s not the only time this phenomena of finding multiple four-leaf clovers has occurred in the Macarthur region.

Weird Science

In 2014, Suzi Mekhitarian, a Glen Alpine resident found 21 four-leaf clovers in her front yard.

According to Brett Summerell, Australian Botanic Garden director of science, “Instead of the dominant gene characteristics of the plant being three leaves, it is four, increasing the chances of this occurring in a single patch.

There hasn’t been a great deal of research into this so nobody knows why this occurs but I hear about it happening every five or six years.”     

Quotes from The Daily Telegraph, original source Macarthur Chronicle Camden August 11, 2014 

What are the odds?

University of Sydney mathematics senior lecturer, Clio Cresswell, has done the maths. There is a one in 10,000 chance of discovering one four-leaf clover. To find 21 four-leaf clovers, the odds are stupefying—it is about a one in a number with 84 zeros.

 “There would have to be something scientifically going on because the odds are far too ridiculous,” she said.

Why do people rely on lucky charms?

Superstition dictates that lucky charms ward off bad luck, misfortune, danger or disease. That’s why some people carry a rabbit’s foot in their pocket or wear the same pair of socks during a footy match.

Carrying a lucky charm around gives the owner a confidence boost. In sport, the small token may even improve their performance, not because of the charm’s magical power, but rather the positive psychological effect it has on the owner.

Never Assume

Even God’s chosen people misplaced their confidence in objects that they assumed had supernatural power.

Please read 1 Samuel chapter 4:1-10.

The Israelites waged war against the Philistines and suffered a humiliating loss. Four thousand Hebrew soldiers lost their lives. The elders attributed the defeat to leaving the ark of the covenant at rest in the temple at Shiloh, instead of having it present in their camp.

The ark symbolised the presence and power of God. The ark was a gold plated wooden box that housed the stone tablets on which were inscribed the 10 commandments, Aaron’s rod and a pot of manna.

As part of a new military strategy, they agreed to remove the ark from its holy place. The next time they faced the enemy, the ark would be alongside them in a battle.

And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?

Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.    1 Samuel 4:3

False Confidence

As soon as the ark entered their camp, a surge of confidence swelled amongst their ranks. Every man in Israel raised an almighty battle cry so loud that the earth trembled.

The shrieks of their war cries produced the desired effect of instilling dread in the hearts of the Philistine warriors. They quaked in fear of Israelite retribution once they understood that the ark of the LORD was with the Israelite army.

What’s problematic here is that the Israelites failed to understand the difference between the ark as a symbol of God’s presence and the actual presence of God.

They had turned the ark of the covenant into an idol. They paraded it as an image of Jehovah in the same way that the pagans flaunted images of their false gods.

The ark was their good luck charm.

The Hebrews mistakenly placed their confidence in the sacred box rather than on God himself. Instead of bringing honour to God by their actions, they insulted Him instead.

God’s Judgement

The Israelites learned the hard way about true worship. Possessing the ark in battle did not guarantee victory, nor did it mean that God was on their side.

And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; and there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.  1 Samuel 1:10

It took decades for the Israelites to repent and cry after the LORD. Read 1 Samuel 7.

At Mizpeh, Samuel declared that their previous defeats had nothing to do with the ark, but on their allegiance to false gods. They were commanded to destroy their idols, demolish their altars and abandon their worship of Baalim and Ashtaroth.

Baal was the fertility-god who dwelt in the sky, fertilised the earth and controlled nature. Ashtoreth was the fertility-goddess that embodied sensual love.

The worship of these false gods involved sexually perverse and immoral practices that were repulsive to the Lord God.

Victory at last

Israel smashed all their offensive altars and images, and burnt their idols. God witnessed their obedience, humility and genuine repentance, so He delivered them from the Philistine army.

So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.   I Samuel 7:14

Where do you stand?

When we are far from God, we have a tendency to rely on other things like superstitious practices or lucky charms.

Even Christians may fall into this trap by using religious symbols like a gold cross or medallions as amulets.

For my mum, the discovery of a handful of four-leaf clovers was a thrill, she’d won big time in the genetic mutation clover lottery. However, her faith doesn’t rest on these lucky charms.

Her full confidence is in the Lord—the one true God who made the four-leaf clovers, the sun, the stars and everything seen and unseen.

Where do you place your confidence?

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.   2 Corinthians 2:14

Bibliography

Author unspecified, 2019, ‘Goodluck charms from around the World’, Lottoland. Retrieved 12 July 2021 from

https://www.lottoland.com.au/magazine/good-luck-charms.html

Elmerhebe, T. 2014, ‘What are the odds? Woman finds 21 four-leaf clovers in her front yard’, The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2016 from

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/what-are-the-odds-woman-finds-21-fourleaf-clovers-in-her-front-yard/news-story/421524008bdcef723a95f54495d345d6

Goldhill, O. 2016, ‘Athletes who wear lucky socks “aren’t wrong”: Psychologists say superstitions yield real advantages’, Qz.com, Quartz. Retrieved 12 July 2021 from

https://qz.com/757757/athletes-who-wear-lucky-socks-arent-wrong-psychologists-say-superstitions-yield-real-advantages/

Henry, M. 1961, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Zondervan, Michigan.

Pawson, D. 2015, Unlocking the Bible, William Collins, UK.

Pfeiffer C,F. 1990, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Publishers, Illinois.