While having dinner recently with my oldest daughter, she shared with me that her left eye wouldn’t stop twitching.
It had been involuntarily flickering for a few days and the irritating motion was like a loose shutter violently banging against the window of a house in the wind of an impending storm.
Holding her hand over her eye she said, “Why does this keep happening? Is God trying to tell me something?”
Omens/beliefs surrounding the Left eye twitching:
Like many physical manifestations of the body that seem to have no proven medical cause, people often equate such anatomical phenomenon with a predictive omen: your nose is itching – someone is coming to visit; your ears are burning – someone is talking about you; and in some cultures, a twitching eye can be a sign of either good or bad fortune.
For instance, in Hawaii, if your right eye twitches, you can expect a birth; but if it’s your left eye, there could be a death. Some Africans believe that a fluttering left eye will bring tears of sorrow, while the right eye jerking is a sign of approaching friends. In China, if your left eye twitches, it’s a good sign; but if your right eye is flickering, that’s bad. The opposite is true in India where a quivering right eye is a sign of blessing while the left eye brings a curse, although for women the results are said to be reversed.
Had we been in any of those places, the cultural interpretation of this physical phenomenon would have been different. Even the time of day and the gender of the person experiencing the strobe-like quivering are said to receive different results of blessing or cursing.
So, How should I answer my daughter’s question: why does her left eye keep twitching?
Could God indeed be trying to tell her something? Is He warning her of some future event? While many physicians claim that the rapid fluttering is a neurological response to stress, diet, lack of sleep, or an irritation in the eye, there has been no direct scientific proof to support their hypothesis.
Likewise, there is no verifiable evidence that the twitching of the eyes will result in the supposed good or evil that it is said to represent. Therefore, the question remains: Is the twitching of an eye an omen of good fortune or a curse of impending evil? Since the twitching of the left eye seems to be predominately viewed by so many cultures as a negative omen, perhaps the Christian Bible can shed some light on these conflicting theories.
Left eye twitching biblical meaning: What does left eye blinking actually mean according to the Bible
First, a word about omens from a biblical and Christian perspective. Virtually every reference to the practice of interpreting omens is viewed negatively in the Bible as a failure to trust in God for the future (see especially Deuteronomy 18:9-13).
In 2 Kings 17:17, 21:6, and 2 Chronicles 33:6 the seeking of omens is described as an indicator of someone who was evil and who had departed from living by faith in the goodness of God’s love, guidance, and protection. Jesus even chided those who considered themselves experts at interpreting the signs in the skies because they overlooked the signs of His miracles as evidence of His divine nature (Luke 12:54-56).
It should be noted that there is no reference in the Bible to someone’s left eye-twitching, or their right eye for that matter; and therefore, there is also no prophetic omen of good or bad, connected to the twitching of the eyes. So, a left-eye twitch may be an annoying physical anomaly, but it does not mean that you should look for some future cataclysmic event to befall upon your life.
However, Jesus did teach that the eyes of the body are the windows to the soul. He said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).
What is interesting and uniquely different about this omen of Jesus in contrast to the ones associated with eye twitching is the fact that He emphasizes that we affect our external surroundings by the internal health of our soul. Whereas, the omens of eye twitching conversely claim that some external event may affect us internally. Instead, Jesus seems to indicate that you have the ability to control the world around you by the condition of your own internal spiritual well-being. In other words, as Jesus also said, “the good within a man will spring up to produce good”; and inversely, no amount of good fortune will change the condition of a wicked man’s heart (See Matthew 12:35).
This intentional attitude of benevolent good or malicious evil seems to be at the heart of Jesus’ words about the eyes being the window to the soul. Even many current psychologists acknowledge that the eyes reveal the true nature of someone’s character. Perhaps that’s why people wink when they are involved in some malevolent act. It is an attempt to close the window of their soul so that no one can see into their true intentions.
Proverbs 6:12-13 says, “A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart—he always stirs up conflict. Therefore, disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.”
There are two other passages of Scripture that also refer to this malevolent winking of the eye in the Wisdom of Solomon (Proverbs 10:10 and 16:30). King David also speaks of his enemies as those who “maliciously wink the eye” (See Psalm 35:19). In all these passages, the winking of the eye is not an involuntary twitching, but rather a malicious and intentional act of deceit and treachery.
So, what does all this mean for my daughter or for you if you are experiencing the twitching of an eye?
In the next month, my daughter will be getting married, moving into a new home, and possibly even starting a new job. Therefore, her level of stress is most assuredly elevated, and could thus be causing her eye to involuntarily twitch. It is this involuntary response that holds the key – she is not maliciously winking her eye or shuttering up the window to her soul in an attempt to hide some evil intent within her heart.
My advice to her and to anyone with a twitching eye is simply to relax and trust the goodness of God that is within the heart of those who seek Him. Jesus’ omen is not a warning for those who are filled with goodness and compassion, but for those whose hearts are darkened by sin.
Conclusion about Left eye twitching – After my in-depth understanding of the Bible:
After careful review of the Bible, it is my overwhelming conviction that the twitching of the left eye is not an omen that should cause you fear or concern.
Instead, as Jesus suggests in his omen about the window of the soul, Christians should seek to positively change their environment and thus their future for the good of themselves and the world around them. Followers of Jesus should be thermostats instead of thermometers. A thermometer can only react to the environment, with the mercury rising or falling based on the external conditions. A thermostat, on the other hand, controls and sets the environment. This should be the response of the followers of Christianity.
Do not react to the twitching of the eye in worry or fear. Instead, from the goodness of your soul, bring joy and peace to the world which will, in turn, create an environment of contentment. This is also the advice of Jesus, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these (good) things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33).
1 Timothy 4:7
Colossians 2:8
Dr. Richard Sams is a top Biblical and Religious educator, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (Evangelism and Church Growth emphasis) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He has two masters’ degrees (Master of Divinity and Master of the Arts of Religion) from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg and also serves on the Pastoral Leadership Advisory Board of Liberty University. Moreover, Richard Sams has been serving as a pastor (Pastoral Ministry) at Calhoun Baptist Church in Calhoun, KY, from the past Nineteen years. He loves practically imparting biblical truths to the next generation, while occasionally conduct spiritual challenges on his facebook page facebook.com/MakeItCountChallenge
I have tried to keep myself away from the twitching beliefs since I became a Christian but the truth is that whenever they twitch, something happens according to which eye was twitching. I just took it on as a way God communicates to me though they make me so anxious especially if it is a bad sign…that is why I don’t like them.