"I can," signed Kingsley. A Deaf worker from Nigeria, Kingsley is part of a team responsible for sharing the gospel with other Deaf Nigerians and training them to be evangelists, teachers, pastors, and church planters themselves. For one of the first times he was beginning to see that God could indeed use him for these kingdom purposes. You should have seen his eyes when the realization came.
"Can't." It's a powerful word. It's what often stops us from pressing on when things get tough. It's the pin in our balloon, breaking our will to jump into the unknown. It's a monologue in our heads that keeps us from realizing the dreams that God has for us.
Moses said it when God called him to be His instrument to free Israel from their bondage in Egypt. Here's his response to God in Exodus 4: "But behold, [the Israelites] will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'… Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue… Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." Can you hear the despair in his voice? And yet how God used Moses in such a powerful way to free the people of Israel and lead them to the edge of the Promised Land.
Jeremiah said it when God called him to be a prophet to the nations. Here are his words from Jeremiah 1: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." Jeremiah didn't feel ready to do what God was calling him to.
Deaf people have seen the word "can't" a lot. (Click on the word to learn the ASL sign for "can't") Many of them are told they can't understand, can't participate, can't make it, can't serve, can't, can't, can't. Frustrated by their own experiences, many of them start to believe that they have nothing to contribute to God's kingdom.
But God sees things differently. To Moses, God replied, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak" (Ex. 4:11-12). To Jeremiah, God's answer was, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak" (Jer. 1:7). And to all of us, God writes through Paul, "He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…" (Eph. 4:11-13) Did you catch that word "all"? God intends for us all to attain unity, for us all to know Jesus intimately, for us all to press on to maturity, to reach the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (that's a big fullness!). That includes our Deaf brothers and sisters. That includes you and me.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, "And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?" (An ironic illustration for Deaf people, but nonetheless applicable!) Deaf people are no less important in the Body of Christ because they are Deaf. In fact, they above all others are better equipped to reach others who are Deaf with the gospel. They are the best evangelists, the best shepherds and teachers for their own people.
It is amazing to watch a Deaf person slowly learn that they "can" (again, click on the word to see the ASL sign). Many have been told all their life that they are less important, so to witness that lie begin to be stripped away is amazing. With God's help, they can be ministers, they can share the gospel, they can plant a church and teach others to obey Christ's commandments. Each person in DOOR's ministry (Deaf or hearing) is an example of how God can take anyone and use them for His kingdom.
This is one reason I love DOOR's ministry to the Deaf. Deaf people are fully involved and responsible in the ministry at all levels, from translation to editing to production to evangelism and discipleship. Ultimately they are reaching their own people, and our ministry is simply providing them with the tools to do so. I am one of only a few hearing people who are privileged to work with these saints.
Please pray for more workers to go out into the harvest. Specifically, please pray that God would raise up more Deaf people to understand that if He calls them, He will equip them for the task ahead.
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13)
