no. 5

Journal entry no. 5
Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Meekness: Strength under God’s control

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

This was the verse that my Senior Pastor blessed me with during my baptism 5 years ago. He usually picks specific verses to bless each of us whom he baptises. So until someone also once shared with me that meekness is strength under God’s control, I always thought it was a reminder for me not to become a prideful person, as it was no secret that I had a high-profile in church.

What it means to be meek only very recently went beyond skin deep to me. Why did Jesus say that the meek shall inherit the earth? This verse actually brought to mind the description of Moses in Numbers 12:3, that Moses was “very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth”. Some scholars say that Matthew was written in a way to depict Christ as the new Moses, but greater — and if I were to think back upon this description of Moses, I would realise that Moses, albeit the meekest, did not get to inherit the Promised Land. Yet he was meek! I would do a further in-depth study on what it means for the haaretz, but as of now I can think of two points:

With the Moses, being meek as strength under God’s control was evident almost throughout. The only time that he lost control of that strength was when he in anger struck the stone (instead of calling it to give up its contents) and water gushed out, and that was when God took away his privilege of entering the Promised Land.

Taking this thought onto the level of the Israelites, being meek as strength under God’s control was perhaps their yielding to God throughout their time in the desert — that if they were to rely on their own strengths they would not have been able to inherit their earth. Subsequently we do see the Israelite kings leaning on their own strength to fight wars — and soon their land was lost.

What does this mean to me? I would ask my question first: What is my inheritance? I would say it is all the promises that the Lord has in store for me — even though I am not 100% sure what it is (apart from the sure promise of eternal life, of course).

What I do know is that for now I am to be meek, to have my strength — my talents and abilities — yielded under His control and according to His purposes. This is only possible if I seek His will and know how to use my strength in ways that pleases Him.