Recommended Citation
Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 12). Cursing the deaf. Youth for Jesus, 7(44).
“Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.” (Lev 19:14NIV)
What point is God making by saying to us the things we have in our opening text? It is that we are not to use the weaknesses or handicaps of others to exploit or hurt them. Doing so, as He further points out, can only show that we do not fear Him.
Now, of course, we may say, “I can never do that. I can never curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.” But any time we are using someone’s ignorance, weakness or position of disadvantage in life to exploit or hurt them, that is exactly what we are doing. We are cursing the deaf. We are putting a stumbling block in front of the blind.
For instance, a pastor that I once knew was transferred to replace another pastor in a chapter of their assembly. And the first thing he did when he got to that assembly was to reduce the stipends being given to all the staff he met there. Why? Well, his reason was that they were performing far below what they were being given.
But what those people were being given at the time for what they were doing was quite little, compared to what most graduates like them were earning. Yet this man did not care at all. He just did what he felt that he had to do.
Now was he not afraid that those staff members may resign and leave? No, he was not. Why was he not afraid? First, he was not afraid because he knew that those staff members had put in some years of their lives into serving that church, years that they could have used in building some careers, furthering their studies or building some businesses. So, leaving the church office like that would be like starting all over again. It would, then, take a very bold and daring person to do so.
Second, that man was not afraid that his staff would leave because he was aware that most of them, if not all of them, came to work in the church office because they believed that God wanted them to be there to serve Him. So, he judged that they would not want him to start telling the church members that the reason they left was that they were unwilling to make sacrifices for God. And did he judge right or not? He did.
In fact, none of those staff members left at the time. Instead, they all stayed to justify the fact that they were not working for God because of money but because they loved Him. But were they happy to stay? No! What, then, can we say that the man did to them? He used their situation, their sense of commitment to God, to exploit them. And that is nothing but cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.
Now there are several other things that we too can do that will amount to cursing the deaf or putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. For instance, people will know that the price of an article has gone terribly up. Yet they will go to someone who doesn’t know and buy everything they have from them at the old price, instead of telling them that the price had changed. And too often, it is their own customers that do this to them. So, the person ends us suffering some losses that could have been avoided. What is that? it is cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind.
What about those who take advantage of those who come to them for help in dealing with sexual abuse or sexual sins? They are cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind. How? They are well aware of the weakness of those coming to them. They already know that they cannot help themselves in their situation. Yet they mess them up while claiming to be offering them help. Are they not cursing the deaf and putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind? They are!
In any case, the word of God tells us that a lack of the fear of God is what will make us do such things. That, then, means there will surely be consequences. So, if there is any way in which you are using people’s ignorance, handicaps, weaknesses or position of disadvantage to exploit, harass or hurt them, you need to repent before it is too late. That is because God is watching you. And He will pay you back in full for whatever you do, good or bad. So, mind yourself.
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