I’m going to read you a list & see if you can tell me what these things have in common; traumatic brain injury, deafness/blindness, chronic illness, eating disorders, insomnia, speech difficulty, Alzheimer’s Disease/dementia. What do those items have in common? They are all different types of disabilities. As we age disabilities creep up on us & prevent us from doing many of the things we enjoyed earlier in life. That list is a few of many types of disabilities. One that was not on the list, and perhaps the most elusive disability of all, is self-pity.
When we get older it seems like almost every joint starts to ache because of injury, surgery, arthritis, or some other reason. We also lose the strength we once had. Because of the miracles of modern medicine, we are living longer. These advances are a blessing from The Lord. But weakness & pain are almost always present as we get older.
We now have over 15,000 certified nursing homes in the United States that care for those who need it. When we are not able to get out & do the things we once did; such as tend to the flower bed, walk around the yard, play with our grandkids, or other activities, we move to one of these homes. We then question what purpose God has for us when all we do is sit in our chair or lay in bed & watch TV. How can that be of any service to Him? We see no purpose for our life & we pity ourselves.
Our Heavenly Father did not create man to feel worthless & pity the condition he’s in. Look how valuable we are to Him! He gave the life of His only begotten Son so that we will be forgiven for our sins & be with Him for eternity. In return, we should devote ourselves to the Lord in service every second of our lives. We ask how He can use us when we are unable to do almost everything. God will give you the power and ability to accomplish His sovereign will. If the Holy Spirit reveals what God wants, He will also provide for us a way to do it.
Because we are not able to be what we consider to be an effective part of God’s calling, the question “WHY?” comes up many times. Questions like “’Why has He allowed this to happen?’ ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ & ‘What can I do for Him now?’” often cross our minds. We should understand that God has a reason for everything that happens. He either caused it to happen or allowed it to happen.
If anyone in the history of the world had a valid reason to ask “WHY ME?” & pity himself it was God’s servant Job. Job was living a good life with wealth as a successful farmer, herdsman, & landowner. He had hundreds of heads of cattle & thousands of sheep. God also found him to be faithful, blameless, & upright. He was the greatest man in all the people of the East. God had blessed him greatly. Satan tried to prove to the Lord that the only reason Job was like this was because of the things he owned. The devil was going to prove Job to be a liar; or so he thought. He was going to try to show God that what Job really loved was his many possessions. God gave Satan permission to take these things from Job. Satan grinned & put his plan to action. In less than one day Job lost everything! When he found out about all that had been taken from him Job grieved deeply. In a matter of hours, he lost 1000 donkeys & oxen, 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, & all 10 of his children. After this happened Job shaved his head, fell to his knees to worship God, & said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)
Satan was angry that his plan to take the worldly possessions from Job failed to cause him to turn against God. Job didn’t become angry with the Lord or pity himself. He turned to God in worship. Satan then said to the Lord that if He would allow him to strike Job’s hand causing him great pain Job will curse God to His face. The Lord gave the devil permission to harm Job & his wife but he could not take their life. Having been granted permission from God, Satan caused great boils to appear on Job’s body from head to toe. Job still worshiped God despite this affliction. Satan again failed to turn him against God. The Lord was pleased by the steadfast faithfulness of His servant Job. Job didn’t get angry or pity himself because of the evil that had been done to him. God blessed him greatly for that. To reward this obedience & dedication God returned to Job twice what was taken.
Throughout the Bible God displayed His power by using the weakness of His people. One of the greatest, & most humble, men in the Bible is Moses. God used him to do mighty works. But Moses had a health problem that was a disability for him. He had difficulty speaking. But the Lord was sending Moses to deliver an important message to the leaders of Egypt. If Moses couldn’t speak well how could he do that? God had the answer to this problem. Moses may not have been eloquent but God gave him the help of someone who would speak for him; his brother Aaron. God commissioned Moses & Aaron to go to the Pharaoh to demand that he release the Israelites from Egypt.
Another example of God using someone who was not strong & mighty is seen in how He used the Israelite Gideon to free His people. Gideon was a farmer who threshed wheat to be baked. God’s mission for Gideon was to save Israel from the Midianite warriors. Like Moses, Gideon believed he wasn’t equipped to follow the will of God. His family was poor and he was the smallest, or weakest, in his family. But the Lord chose him because he honored God.
Gideon didn’t believe God could really use him for this great task. He asked for signs from the Almighty Lord as evidence that he was seriously going to use him. First, he placed a woolen fleece on the floor and told the Lord that if there was dew on the fleece only & not the floor he would believe God wanted to use him. After God gave him this sign he asked that the fleece be left dry and only the ground be covered in dew. Again, God gave him this sign. Gideon was now confident that the Lord wanted him to save the Israelites from the Midianites, but, how could he? He was still the weakest & not able to overcome their powerful forces. His confidence was low & he was unsure of himself. God had to make him feel more self -confident & assured that he was worthy of this job for the people of God.
Gideon had thousands of soldiers in his army with which he would go to battle with the Midianites. God told him he had too many. God took Gideon’s force down from 32,000 soldiers to just 300. He did this so Gideon could not boast that victory was achieved by his own hands. For a man who was already weaker than the enemy his confidence was at an all-time low. God was going to give him the confidence he needed to stop worrying and feeling sorry for himself. That night the Lord instructed Gideon to go down to the enemies. At this time the number of Midianites was approximately 135,000 men ready to destroy Gideon & his company of 300. God revealed that when he goes down to these men he would hear them say something that would make him feel stronger & more confident. When the men went down they heard a Midianite tell of a dream he had. In the dream a loaf of barley bread, the weakest of the breads, tumbled into the Midianite camp & overturned the tent. After the man revealed the dream another fellow said; “This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon a man of Israel: for into his hand has God delivered Midian and all the host.” (Judges 6:13-14)
Gideon was amazed when he heard his name. God had already placed fear of him in the hearts of his enemy. He worshipped his Lord & returned to his people telling them to arise for the Lord has delivered the enemy Midians into their hands. God replaced the self-pity & fear with a strong sense of courage, faith, & value. Gideon divided his men into 3 companies & gave each man a trumpet & a pitcher with a lamp in it. He told his men to follow him to the camp of the enemy & do exactly like him with the trumpets & pitchers. He told them surround the enemy & to blow on the horns & say “The Sword of the LORD and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18) They were going to surround the 135,000 enemy forces & sound the attack in the name of the LORD & of Gideon. When the enemy saw & heard what Gideon & his force did they all fled crying.
At one time Gideon pitied himself for the situation he was in. He didn’t feel like his life would make a difference in the world. Many times, this is the same way people feel when they are in nursing homes or are homebound & all they do is watch TV all day. God saw great potential in this faithful servant, as He does for all of us. By His power what seemed impossible would be accomplished. Gideon & his band of 300 men would send the army of 135,000 Midianites running with their tails between their legs. Through the influence of the Lord & the Holy Spirit Gideon no longer felt self-pity.
When everything seems to be against us we wonder what purpose God has for us. In 1982 the Vujicic family welcomed a baby boy named Nicholas into the world. There was one thing different about their baby Nick. He was born without arms or legs. Nick’s mother even refused to hold him when the nurses brought him to her. We ask why God would create a child with disabilities so severe. In his teenage years & early adulthood he also struggled with depression & loneliness. Although his physical life had many challenges, his faith in The Lord was very strong. Nick became a motivational speaker & has given speeches around the world. At the age of 19 he began his speaking engagements in front of many people. When he was 21 he graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree & a double major in accounting & financial planning. Even though he has no arms or legs he has accomplished much in his life. Nick is an author, a musician, a motivational speaker, & an actor. He also enjoys the hobbies of fishing, swimming, & painting. Nick Vujicic is more disabled than most of us will ever be; but he sought God’s calling for his life & through his inspirational speeches he has led many souls to our Heavenly Father for salvation.
When we are disabled, like Nick Vujicic, we have the potential of our story inspiring others who face similar circumstances. Today we have technology that evolves & becomes greater every day. We can pick up a telephone & talk to someone we love deeply, we can tell a joke that can turn their frown upside down, & we can start a ministry that reaches the world over the internet.
On June 4th of 2006 I (Michael Brown) was driving down a wet road. My car hydroplaned & spun into an oak tree. That day I survived a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I was in a coma when the paramedics arrived. Statistically very few people survive that injury when they are already in a coma when EMS gets to them. God saved my physical life that day. I remained in a coma for the next 3 weeks & doctors were unsure of my survival. When my condition was stable I was taken to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta GA to begin rehabilitation. I was in therapy in a few different locations for a couple years. My last day of rehab was May 29, 2008!
After rehab I took classes online at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College. The secretary at Clear Creek sends prayers to their students every day. One day the Holy Spirit spoke to me & told me to send that prayer to my Yahoo email contacts. That was the birth of what is now Knee-Mail Ministry. Every day I send Today’s Prayer to 100 people through email & I share it with many more in the Knee-Mail Ministry Facebook group.
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/631714556951629/)
Our group now has 433 active members & is continuing to grow! One member lives in Australia & one lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Today’s Prayer is reaching across the world. Despite being disabled with a TBI I send a gospel message to hundreds of people every day. With the message being on the internet Today’s Prayer could reach thousands of souls; God only knows how many people are touched by them every day. Instead of feeling pity for myself about the fate that life dealt me I sought after God & asked how I can serve Him. Today I am certain the work I am doing with Knee-Mail Ministry, Hopewell First Baptist church’s Senior Citizen Ministry, & the ministry at Lowcountry Assisted Living & other nursing homes, are God’s will for my life. He has given me great joy because I am following His instructions.
The Lord has a mission for all of us regardless of the condition we are in. The possibilities are endless. If it is the will of God, the weakest & most disabled servants of the Lord can defeat an unbeatable force & move mountain. God will help us fulfill our mission in His story. All we must do is ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and follow His instructions.
