The Number Seven

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

Life is funny sometimes, don’t you think? I do. (Not funny “ha ha” just, well, curious. I mean, it is also funny “ha ha” sometimes too, but, I digress…)

Case in point, have you ever had a friend who bought a white SUV and then suddenly, you notice white SUVs everywhere? Our neighbor bought one recently and I then noticed that four other neighbors on our same street all had the exact same SUV. Or, maybe you bought a cute, teal bag and then noticed at least two other women carrying them around every time you went out in public. Isn’t it odd how we can pick up on these little things in our lives once we open our eyes to them?

The number seven is like that for me. My husband, Paul, and I celebrated our seven-year wedding anniversary last week. Seven is Paul’s favorite number. (He grew up in New England and was a big fan of Mickey Mantle.) We were married on February 11, 2012. Or, if you shorten it: 2/11/12. (Add 2+1+1+1+2 and you get 7.) The home that Paul grew up in had a street address of 52. (5+2=7). The house my parents live in is 106. (1+0+6=7.) Our current address is 124. (1+2+4=7.) We are moving into a new house soon and that house has an address of 151. (1+5+1=7.) I have come to think of the number seven as our blessed number. (I would say our lucky number, but I don’t believe in luck, I do believe in blessings!)

When I decided to create this blog, I knew I wanted to call it “Focus on God + Good” but it seemed a little long to have as the URL. I wanted it just be fogg.com. Unfortunately, fogg.com was already taken. Paul told me to just add a number to it. Seven seemed like the logical choice. It was “our” number and I feel like we should be focusing on God and good every day of our lives; seven days a week. So, fogg7.com is the result of that.

As I grow in my spiritual life and read my Bible, or listen to it, as the case may be, I have been delighted to learn what a significant and sacred role the number seven plays and has played in Scripture.

In all, the number seven is used more than seven hundred times in the Bible! In Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth. On the seventh day, God rested. On the seventh day, creation was complete.

There are other instances in the Bible where you can find the number seven showing divine perfection or completeness. Before animals could be used for sacrifice, they had to be at least seven days old. Naaman, who had leprosy, was commanded to bathe in the Jordan River seven times and his flesh would be restored. Joshua was directed to march around Jericho for seven days, and on the seventh day to make seven rounds, while seven priests were blowing trumpets. The Lord told Joshua that on this day, the wall of the city will fall flat. These examples relate to us that the number seven signifies a completion of some kind.

Seven is considered the number of perfection, security, safety, and rest.

We have seven days in a week. Seven continents make up our earth. There are seven colors in a rainbow. Our skin is regenerated in seven days. Every cell in our body is replaced every seven years. There are seven wonders of the ancient world. Seven has the highest probability of occurring as an addition when rolling dice. The OSI model has seven layers. A ladybug commonly has seven spots. The neutral pH value that lies between acidity and alkalinity is seven. There are seven basic musical notes.

Plus, my friend Sherri sent me this great article from Bible Study Notes: The Number 7 in the Bible. Read it, it is so cool!
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Isn’t this fascinating? So, many people identify the number seven with something being “complete”.  I love this! I like to think that my husband and I complete each other and make each other’s lives complete. What do you think about the number seven? After reading this, maybe you will start to see the number seven in a whole, new light. ​