The Red Letters

Matt 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

The word meek is often understood as being synonymous with the word weak. We tend to think of someone who is unable to stand firm on a position, is easy to persuade to the point of gullibility and in general is a weak-minded, weak-willed person. Meekness is anything but weakness. It is power under control. John Piper said “Meekness is the power to absorb adversity and criticism without lashing back.” It takes more power to stay under control than to blow up. Blowing up is easy. It takes more strength not to react than it does to retaliate.

A meek person is one whose strength is controlled by God. God’s control shows up in our thoughts, words, actions, will and emotions. The meek are those who submit, not to what others want, but to what God wants. The Greek word for meek, praus, was used to refer to domesticated animals. Praus does not refer to a wild, unruly animal, but to a powerful horse or ox that was trained so it could be controlled by man. The word meek as Jesus used it refers to a strong person who is under God’s control.

Two great examples of meekness in the Bible were Jesus and Moses. See here how Moses was described in Numbers 12:3…“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Yet, Moses defied the Pharoah several times, stood alone against the Israelites on a number of occasions, rallied the Israelites to defeat their enemies and handed down judgments to those who disobeyed the commands of God. Jesus called himself meek in Matt 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls.” This meek Jesus chased money changers out of the temple with a whip, publicly rebuked the Pharisees and religious leaders and stayed committed to doing God’s will even to His death.

Jesus and Moses are good examples to follow. A few fair questions to ask then are does God have control of your life? Do you include Him in your decisions and plans? Do you trust Him enough to give you both the right action and reaction in all circumstances? Let’s ask God to give us strength that is under His control.

Tim