Wisdom Wednesday : Wisdom of Being a Helping Hand to the Disabled
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“I was eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame.”
(Job 29:15) NASB 95
Because of the attack by Satan on Job, he went from being an honored leader (Job 29) to a despised and accused man (Job 30). He was in a disabled state:
- His body was covered in oozing sores (Job 2:7-8)
- He was unrecognizable as his former self by his friends (2:12)
- He was depressed, regretting his own existence (3:19) and he desired to die (3:20-23; 6:8-9).
- He was in continual pain (6:10) and did not even desire to eat (3:24)
- He was unable to peacefully sleep (7:3-4) and he was continually weeping (3:24; 16:16,20; 17:7)
In the short passage in Chapter 29 verse 6, Job was in the middle of defending his virtuous former life in the face of accusations thrown at him. He enumerated the compassionate things he had done in his former life:
- He helped the poor and the orphans (29:12)
- He comforted and blessed those that were dying (19:13; See Prov. 31:6)
- He helped the widows (29:12)
- AND, he helped the disabled people, blind and lame.
Job was a seeker of wisdom. He said, “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12). Answering his own questions at the end of his discourse in chapter 28, he says, “And to man [God] said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28).
A wise man that feared God, Job helped the disabled. The Lord is the one who opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up the ones bowed down -spiritually and physically humbled. (Psalm 146:8). According to the law, those who misled a blind person were cursed (Deut. 27:18).
Caring for the disabled is the work of the Lord and we are called to be wise and help those in need.
In 1986 when Debbie was 6 years old, we bought the cassette album “I’ve Got Wheels” by Joni Eareckson Tada. We sang around the house one of our favorite songs on the album – “May I Borrow your hands?”
The song was a beautiful message of helping those who cannot use their hands. Because Debbie could not use her hands, we all related to the message of the song and loved the catchy tune.
Here are the lyrics of the song sung by Joni and her young friend, Anna Christen:
Joni: God gives us hands, a gift of love to share,
Hands that can hold and help and hug, more perfectly as a pair,
Left and Right, together they can be, wonderful tools … but mine can’t be used,
Cause they have forgotten how, for now.
Joni: May I borrow your Hands? Mine Don’t work so well,
But yours will do just fine,
May I borrow your Hands? They can work for me,
They can be mine, for a time.
Helping one another like a sister and a brother,
May I borrow your Hands? They can work for me,
Together we’ll do just fine!
Anna Christen: You may borrow my Hands, since yours don’t work so well,
But mine will do just fine,
You may I borrow my Hands? They can work for you,
They can be yours, for a time.
Joni and Anna: Helping one another like a sister and a brother,
Joni: I will borrow your Hands, They can work for me,
Joni and Anna: Together we’ll do just fine!
Anna Christen: Yes, you can borrow! Yes, you can borrow, I’ll let you borrow mine!
The original soundtrack can be played at the Internet Archive website. See Track 8 for :
https://archive.org/details/ive-got-wheels-audio/08+-+May+I+Borrow+Your+Hands.mp3
And if you would like to see Joni sing the song with her husband, Ken, you can watch this clip on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-iYg2cZX-w
Like Job, let us all seek to be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and hands to those like Joni and Debbie.
