What’s Your Handicap?
Clay Dyer began fishing when he was five years old. When he was fifteen, he started participating in fishing tournaments. To date, Clay has caught over 7,000 fish and now competes in one of the world’s most prestigious fishing tours. Did I also mention that Clay has no arms or legs?
Despite this immense handicap, Clay threads and ties his hook with his mouth and partial right arm. He wedges the fishing rod between his neck and shoulder before twisting his body to cast the line into the water. He refuses to wear any available aids, claiming they would give him an unfair advantage over other competitors.
Clay shares his life experiences to various companies, charities and churches. His motto is: “If I can, you can.”
In this devotion, we will be focusing on the central question, “What’s Your Handicap?” I want you to identify a hindrance in your life that holds you back from God’s perfect will. And for those of you who feel that you have no faults, then you’ve just identified your biggest one!
Let’s read from Exodus 4:10-12
10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?
12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Here a former prince, a runaway, and now a shepherd, is pleading with God concerning his handicap. He tries to bail out of God’s plan by pointing out his “slow tongue.” According to Jewish tradition, Moses had difficulty in pronouncing certain syllables. In other words, Moses was scared to death of not being taken seriously, in part because of a speech impediment.
DL Moody had a similar struggle like Moses. In the beginning of his ministry, after speaking at a midweek service, someone advised him that he would serve God more effectively by keeping quiet. Most of his life he struggled to spell properly, use correct punctuation and speak with proper grammar. Spurgeon once remarked that Moody was “the only man who could say ‘Mesopotamia’ in two syllables.”
Friend, we all have things that we view as personal handicaps. Probably the biggest handicap we all have is pride. Our pride causes us to fear failure and in the process, we fail to attempt something for God. We feel intimidated by others who can seemingly, “do it better than us.”
So what about Moses? Was he justified to bail out of God’s will because of an embarrassing speech impediment?
When God heard the excuse of Moses, His response was: Who hath made man’s mouth? God qualifies those whom He calls. Moses gave his handicap to God and led an estimated 2 million people out of bondage
And DL Moody? Moody once said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding in something that really doesn’t matter.” When he passed away in 1899, Dwight Lyman Moody had preached to an estimated 100 million people.
I love the challenge that comes from Rev. David Ring. “I have cerebral palsy… What’s your problem?” This nationally known speaker was born with a handicap that includes: stiff or weak muscles, trouble swallowing or speaking, and tremors among other things. Yet he travels the nation and asks perfectly normal people: What’s your problem?
I’m afraid that for most of us, our handicaps are mere excuses in disguise. We feel ashamed that all we have is two mites like the woman in Luke 21:2. Oh! But Jesus wants you to know that whatever you have is enough! Even if you’re scraping the bottom of the meal barrel…it’s enough! (1 Kings 17) If you only have a little oil left…it’s enough! (2 Kings 4)
Remember, it’s not about your ability. It’s about your availability. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone. So what is your handicap? No matter how big or small you think it is, give your handicap to God and start doing God’s work!