Common Senses

You’ve probably heard it said that when you have a handicap, such as blindness, your other senses, like your hearing, develop in such a way to compensate for what is missing. For example, my daughter is hearing impaired, but her vision helps her to read lips to compensate for what she misses auditorily.  

Several years ago, our church hosted a special camp; a group of blind people of all ages, there to experience nature in a different way. Pastor enjoys helping ALL campers overcome their fear of going off the zip line, 300 feet up in the air, and these blind campers were no different. I’ve been off that tower, but I can tell you the thing that scared me the most the first time was what I saw…the height, the nothingness that was beyond the tiny platform on which I was standing. So, what is so frightening for a blind person? Compensation of other senses? Maybe it’s the feeling of walking up the many flights of stairs and the swaying of the tower, or maybe the sound of other campers screaming in either fright or delight. I don’t know…but my thought was this...fear is universal.  

It doesn’t just attack the sighted. 2 Cor. 5:7 says “we walk by faith and not by sight.” Does this mean the verse doesn’t apply to blind people? Of course not. The devil knows our weaknesses and he will attack wherever he can set his deepest hook. We walk by faith, not by what we smell, like a gas leak. Not by sound, like thunder, and certainly not by sight. For those of us fortunate enough to see the beauty in the world, that also means we see a lot of evil and destruction. But trusting in God’s perfect plan and His promises compensates for everything that the devil tries to use for his gain. God gave you senses for a purpose, but we can’t let them dictate how they affect our lives.