National Left-Handers Day and a Biblical Reminder
National Left-Handers Day offers a lighthearted reason to celebrate southpaws, but it also opens the door to a deeper biblical reflection. From cultural assumptions about left and right to the surprising story of Ehud, this article reminds readers that God can use anyone for his purposes.
- Left-handers have often lived in a world designed for right-handed people.
- Scripture includes both familiar “right hand” imagery and surprising examples of left-handed courage.
- Joshua’s charge points everyone, left-handed or right-handed, toward faithfulness to God’s Word.
By David Faust
Southpaws, it’s time to celebrate. August 13, 2026, is National Left-Handers Day.
As a lefty myself, I find this news encouraging. As a minority comprising less than 15 percent of the world’s population, we left-handers endure many subtle indignities.
The Left-Handed Minority
An honest person is called “upright,” not “upleft.” And the Latin word for the left side, sinister, sounds downright scary. By contrast, the Latin word for the right side is dexter, from which we get “dexterity.” If someone is “ambidextrous,” his hands are literally “both right.” The French word for left (gauche) means “crude, awkward, clumsy, lacking social experience or grace.”
There are exceptions (like the tradition of wearing wedding rings on the left hand), but overall, from scissors to can openers, from gravy ladles to computer mice, the world seems designed for the convenience of the right-handed majority. Most of the time we southpaws accept our lot without complaint while we sit quietly at the left corner of the dinner table.
Several U.S. Presidents, including George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama, have signed bills into law with their left hands. Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Charlemagne were left-handed. Neuroscientists theorize that left-handers may have a special knack for creativity. (Think of lefties Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller, Ringo Starr, and Jay Leno.) Left-handed star athletes include basketball’s Bill Russell, tennis’s John McEnroe, and baseball’s Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax. Yet, the left-handed minority also includes the Boston Strangler, Jack the Ripper, and the insufferable cartoon character Bart Simpson.
Left-Handers in Scripture
Even the Scriptures seem to favor right handers. Ecclesiastes 10:2 states, “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left” (New International Version). Psalm 118:16 says, “The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” Church members give each other “the right hand of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9). Somehow “the left hand of fellowship” doesn’t sound right.
According to an ABC News report issued several years ago, “Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They’re also more likely to die young and get into accidents.” That’s bad news for us southpaws, although the report offered little hard evidence to substantiate its disturbing claims. The good news? Lefties “may have higher health risks,” the journalist went on to observe, but they enjoy the “element of surprise”—a handy thing, I suppose, if you happen to be a boxer, a magician, or a party planner.
The element of surprise helped an Israelite hero in the days of the Judges. “Ehud, a left-handed man,” strapped a sword to his right thigh and concealed it under his clothes before gaining a private audience with Eglon, the king of Moab. At the opportune time, Ehud grabbed the sword with his agile left hand and plunged it into the king’s belly—a violent scene made more picturesque by the added detail that Eglon “was a very fat man” and the fat closed over the blade and handle of the sword (Judges 3:15-22). The brave lefty Ehud led the Israelites to overcome their Moabite oppressors, and “the land had peace for eighty years” (v. 30).
That same book of the Bible mentions other heroic southpaws as well: 700 left-handed slingshot experts who “could sling a stone at a hair and not miss” (Judges 20:16).
Do Not Turn Right or Left
No matter which hand we favor, we should remember what the Lord told Joshua: “Do not turn from [God’s Word] to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (Joshua 1:7).
Even a lefty can see that’s right.
This is the seventh in a series of articles based on the book of Ecclesiastes.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.
