The third beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount is “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). The Greek word “praus”, translated as “meek” in the ESV and most English Bibles, is sometimes rendered as “gentle”. In contemporary non-biblical literature, praus described a horse that had been broken-in, had become submissive and trainable, and followed the master’s lead and instruction. The spirit of resistance was replaced with a spirit of cooperation.

Humility and meekness are essential qualities for cultivating a relationship with God. Humility is recognition and acceptance that we are not sufficient of ourselves, but that our sufficiency is of God. Simply stated, “I can’t; He can; I’m going to let Him”. Meekness corresponds with humility in that it is receptivity toward God and the things of God without being argumentative and without stubborn resistance.

Moses is a great example of both humility and meekness. The essence of God’s directions to Moses was go to Pharaoh, tell him to let my people go so that they can worship Me, then tell Israel to follow you out of Egypt. Simple instructions but a mind-boggling task for Moses. “Who me? You’ve got the wrong guy!” Later, it would be said of Moses he was very meek, “more than all the people on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3), but in the beginning, God had to work with him.

Initially, Moses fixated on his own limited abilities, leading to significant doubt. However, God graciously redirected his focus to His own omnipotence, thereby strengthening Moses’ faith. God told Moses to throw his staff on the ground, and it became a serpent. Then God told him to pick the serpent up by the tail, and it became a staff again. Next, He had him put his hand into his bosom, and it became leprous, then to stick it back in, and it became clean again. Thereafter, with meekness,
Moses followed God’s instructions and witnessed God’s supernatural works unfold.

Moses really did not believe he had the ability within himself to do what God asked. When Moses personally experienced the power of God, his faith and meekness emerged. How can anyone know with certainty that God is real and that He will do what He says He will do? The only foolproof way is to experience God, and the only way to experience Him is to do what He says. Moses obeyed the instructions given about the staff and hand. From then on, Moses knew that if he followed God’s instructions, God would accomplish His work and will. Gaining a biblical understanding is vital but useless if you do not practice the principles therein. Faith grows with practice. God is known by experience, not just knowledge. Moses participated in the extraordinary signs, wonders, and miracles God performed to lead Israel out of Egypt because he was meek to receive God’s instructions. Meekness includes both hearing and doing.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest example of meekness which is why he could say the following.

Matthew 11:28-30 (REV). Come to me, all you who are laboring and have been loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is comfortable, and my burden is light.”

The yoke metaphor connects to the concept of meekness and humility by illustrating how a farmer pairs a young colt with an experienced animal, encouraging the colt to learn and follow without fear. Jesus is the ultimate example of walking with God, as he consistently listened to and obeyed God’s instructions, even to the point of suffering and dying on the cross. We connect with Jesus by accepting his lordship, emulating his behavior recorded in the Gospels, and obeying His commands. The disciples ask Jesus why he spoke to the multitude in parables. He responded by quoting Isaiah 6:9-10.

Matthew 13:14-15. “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘you will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see  with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.”

The multitudes’ motivation lacked sincere humility or meekness to worship God and accept the lordship of His Messiah. As a result, they were not deemed worthy to receive the clear and empowering teaching that Jesus shared with his genuine disciples. If we desire to know the things of God, the requirement is sincere godly hunger that is demonstrated by meekness. In the Sermon on the Mount, meekness is the third virtue listed following humility and mourning. In this context of the sermon, “mourning” refers to the mindset of people who are genuinely repentant and regretful of their sin. Sin must be dealt with because it blocks us from receiving with meekness God’s Word and direction.

James 1:21(ESV). Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

In the first century, the Jewish people held firmly to their religious traditions, which hindered their acceptance of the gospel message shared by Jesus and his apostles. Traditionalism still causes many to be stubbornly resistant to God’s Word and to be fossilized in their limited knowledge. “This is the way it has always been, and this is the way it should always be!” Traditions can be a major roadblock to a correct, meek attitude. If we have this tendency, it would be wise to ask God for forgiveness and help to change.

We also hinder growth by limiting God to our meager framework of understanding. When we consider the great magnitude of God’s knowledge contained in His Word, we see how foolish and prideful we are to limit ourselves to our minuscule understanding. The infinite, eternal God can never be fully contained within our small, finite knowledge or understanding of Him. However greatly we may mature, we will never know all and can still learn more. Have you ever noticed how God continually refers to us as children and not adults?

How could anyone ever think his own knowledge is complete and refuse to learn more! Yet this is a common deception to which many fall prey. Often an honest, sincere desire to believe, think, and speak accurately about God moves to a  presumptuous conviction that our beliefs contain the whole truth about God. This has the practical effect of confining God
to our understanding.

People are convinced that what they believe is the truth, which is why they believe it! None of us would say our beliefs in any way limit God. However, quite often the unintentional consequence is that our concept of God is limited to the rigid structure we have built in our own minds. The honest, sincere desire to be right slips into narrow-mindedness or closed-mindedness. We become deceived into not considering anything other than what we believe to be the truth. In doing so, we think we are
taking a stand for God!

From this posture of mind, it is a very small step to criticize, condemn, and fear all those who believe differently than we do. “Surely, they must be wrong because they do not believe what I believe.” Too often, we perceive other sincere, committed Christians as a threat because their beliefs are different from ours. Therefore, we think we must avoid them. Our convoluted thinking moves to: “how can we fellowship with someone standing outside the proper theological structure and thus outside God?” This mind set opposes meekness, closes God out, and causes division in the family of God.

We all have to fight the fear of being wrong or of having been wrong. Regarding God, many people would rather stay ignorant in their wrong beliefs than concede they have been wrong. We get deceived into not thinking about it because of fear. Another common reason for a lack of meekness is comfort. Most denominations have an unchangeable, written statement of beliefs which is very comfortable for them. Again, people get nervous or feel threatened by the possibility of having been wrong about God. Once we decide what we believe, we are not willing to hear more, so we will not! Anything we do hear, we conform to our
preconceived definition of God or disregard all together.

To walk with God requires constant diligence and hard work. God encourages us to study the Word daily, and when we do, we receive new information. This may be unsettling to some because work is required to determine if what is being encountered is true. When new information is taught, we are challenged to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. Because of laziness, we opt to reject the possible new insight which results in a lack of meekness.

Our loyalty to a man or organization can result in a lack of meekness also. When a teaching does not correspond with Dr. So and So or Reverend So and So or my denominational belief, we are tempted to ignore and shun it. Our loyalty belongs to the Lord God Almighty and His son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We should slow down and take inventory of our attitudes. Does something prevent us from being open and receptive to God: sin, tradition, rigidity of doctrinal beliefs, fear of being wrong, comfort, laziness, or human loyalty? Whatever is preventing meekness, we need to deal with it for our inheritance in the Kingdom is dependent upon meekness. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”