The Beatitudes: 3. Meekness

The Beatitudes: 3. Meekness.

Please read Matthew 5:3-10.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5).

You will be joyfully fulfilled when you submit to God’s authority, like a wild bronco bridled by a master horseman. Congratulations! Since your strength and giftedness is guided by God, you will soon explore the Family property, the new earth, when it appears.

Let us suppose each one of us was a wild bronco, furiously running with power, strength and abandon but without direction or purpose. The sooner this wild strength is under some control, the better. In order not to be a mere slave to our natural impulses, we need a master cowboy to tame us just enough to put a bridle on and lead us to energetic usefulness.

This idea of power-in-control is the Biblical way of looking at meekness. It is not to be confused with weakness. Meekness is not a passive plow horse plodding along in abject servitude. Meekness is the controlled strength of a bridled bronco. Meekness is the strength of discernment needed to be neither too bold nor too timid, neither too zealous nor too uncertain. Meekness is allowing oneself to be placed in God’s corral for spiritual training. It is the strength of character that gives the reins to the Lord. Meekness is the humble strength that lives in confident trust in God’s direction.

The contemporary world has a difficult time defining or describing meekness. It’s rare to see what Dostoyevsky called the “moral force of meekness” in operation. A meek person is humble enough to give up selfish ambitions that would only promote oneself above another. So meekness knows how to cooperate, to compete graciously. Meekness is being strong enough to refuse to take advantage of someone else’s lower, more vulnerable position. With a meek person, God provides his self-control. God controls the reins, and the meek person is ruled not by his passions or impulses, but by their faith and dependence on God.

Moses was called “the meekest man on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3). Was he weak in any way? Passive, reluctant, unable to think for himself? Not a chance. He exhibited strengths beyond most mortal men. But he was content to be a servant of God, satisfied with God’s favor, humbly dependent on the Lord’s guidance and empowerment.

Only children of someone wealthy ever inherit the family property and treasure. The meek prove themselves to be children of the King! Congratulations! Our royal inheritance includes the new earth, the eternal Promised Land! The meek are indeed so fortunate.