April 7: The Blind Men and The Elephant

John Godfrey Saxe’s ( 1816-1887) version of the famous Indian legend,

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach’d the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -“Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he,
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

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Wow, can I relate to these blind men!  So often I think I understand something (or someone) only to find out later that I knew only one part of the whole.  And so often, when I finally see the whole picture, it is totally different that what I thought I knew!

This reminds me of the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 when God says that He knows the plans He has for me and that they are so much more than I realize at any given moment, that they are for my good and not for harm.  For instance, take the blind man who grabbed the elephant’s trunk and thought it was a snake.  Snakes often don’t have a very good reputation (maybe that started in the Garden when Satan disguised himself as one), so I imagine the blind man didn’t have a very positive attitude about elephants at that point.  That reminds me of the junk life throws at me way too often.  If I look at just the junk, I can tend to spiral down into a bad mood, depression, or worse.  However, if I look past the junk, around the junk, or over the junk to see how God is working in my life, everything changes!  I think I’ve said this before, but when I look back at the way my Father has worked through the trials in my life, I wouldn’t change any of them.  They have all worked to shape me into the person I am and bring me to this place in time and space and it is good!

Shifting gears now- this story also made me think of some of the characteristics of God.  Just like the blind men, if we focus on just one, we miss how big our God is.  So, for the rest of this week, I’d like to take each of the other elephant ‘parts’ and talk about other facets of our God.  I hope you enjoy this journey with me.

Have a blessed day!