The Sunday Mail
Lynell Dangarembizi
My Perspective
THANK you all for the feedback I received from my last article. Most people were shocked by the revelations I made about Daniel and Nehemiah. But yes, both were not able to naturally sire children of their own and remained childless the rest of their lives.
According to the Bible, Daniel and his companions, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, were captured and taken into exile to Babylon. Having been chosen to serve in the king’s palace because of their high intelligence they were made eunuchs. One of the conditions for foreigners to serve in the king’s palace was to become a eunuch.
This meant that your reproductive organ was castrated leaving you unable to have and naturally sire children. This was done to protect the royal lineage of the king from being contaminated by foreigners.
Most kings had many wives so such a practice ensured that those men who served in his palace did not commit adultery with his wives.
Nehemiah was also a eunuch in the palace of King Artaxerxes II of Persia. He was a cup-bearer to the king, which was a very important official position. I hope this clears the air. Which brings us to the so-called issue of disability.
I say “so-called” because in God’s vocabulary there is no such thing as disability. Someone may be born with everything else but without eyes. To God its normal, because that is how he intended it to be.
Remember what we said, the purpose and assignment of a man will determine the kind of body. Let’s look at the story of Moses when he was called by God to lead the people of Israel. You would think that after giving an excuse of stammering God would have healed him. Let’s look at the conversation,
“Moses said to the Lord, ‘O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’” (Exodus 4:10-12)
It is apparent that the way we view things is different from the way God views them. Moses was saddened by his disability, he wanted God to feel pity for him, or at the very least heal him. But the response he got was shocking; God refused to heal Moses and from the Scripture we get to understand that God made Moses — a stutterer — to fulfil a particular purpose.
If the Creator Himself does not feel pity when He looks at a disabled person, then who are we to feel sorry for them? In God’s eyes they are perfectly normal and are designed to accomplish a God-given assignment.
The reason why disability is such a taboo in our society is because we do not understand God’s purposes. We need to renew our minds and learn to see things the way God sees them. A mother who has just given birth to a disabled child becomes depressed, desperate and grieves. God has given this mother a gift but she does not see it. All she sees is hopelessness and despair. But in that child, God sees the next president, Moses or Bill Gates. The woman is crying, but God is rejoicing. Sadly in most cases the purpose of the child will never be fulfilled because the mother will never recover from her grief and will pass on her disappointment to her child. The child will also grow up feeling inadequate, useless and bitter, cursing, instead of thanking God for it. What a tragedy. These feelings are so strong that all their lives are filled with bitterness and anger towards God.
Myles Munroe once remarked that the grave is the wealthiest place on earth, because in the graveyard you find dreams that were never fulfilled and gifts and talents that were never used. With these negative attitudes most disabled people die without discovering their purpose and mission in life, very sad indeed. Most of the problems we are facing as humanity are there because most people die without fulfilling their purpose. These series of articles will aim to change that. We aim to renew people’s minds concerning disability. Till next time “Celebrate Your Uniqueness”!
Lynell Dangarembizi is president and founder of Rare Diamonds Network, an organisation established to “Celebrate Disability”. Feedback [email protected] and WhatsApp +263772738117
