Meekness

Jesus did not come to defend a dead men. He did not come to defend the old you. He came to finish the job and put the old man to death once and for all. Jesus defends the raised, the born again, the delivered. Jesus defends the new man. He acquits the guilty by taking the guilt upon Himself and raising us from the dead.

That is what makes the new man the meek man. He has put an end to all self defence because he realises there is nothing in him worth defending. Rather then defend himself, the old man is simply put to death.

But this, ” death to self”, does not make him weak. And this is what makes the believer so antithetical to the world. This is what makes him an enigma, a stranger. This is what confuses the worldly man.

The meek man is strong. He has true authority for he no longer speaks on his own behalf, but only what he hears, that he speaks. He has been emptied of all self reliance, but that has not made him mute.

Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)

Moses was the meekest man on earth prior to Christ. And what did that meekness look like? It looked like total inadequacy for the task.

Did that prevent him from fulfilling his task? No. It enabled him, with great authority and power to fulfil it. And so Luke tells us that Moses was, “powerful in his words and deeds.” (Acts 7:22).

In his spiritual poverty, God had opened his mouth and filled it. His words would no longer be the words of man, but of God.

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak (Exodus 4:12)

Moses’ response to this news from God is important. At the time of his calling Moses replied,

 Oh, my Lord, please send someone else. (Exodus 4:13)

The modern world would consider this reply humble or meek. On the contrary, when God gives us an instruction or a promise it is arrogance to counter it with an objection.

And so, the Lord’s anger burned against Moses (Exodus 4:14).

Meekness, is not walking with our tail between our legs in some manufactured humility. It is walking in submission to God. And this is what makes meekness a godly man’s strength.

Moses was the meekest man on earth prior to Christ. And what did that meekness look like? It looked like total inadequacy for the task.

Did that prevent him from fulfilling his task? No. It enabled him, with great authority and power to fulfil it.

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is also not a natural disposition. It is not, “niceness”. Some dogs are nicer than others. Meekness is the recognition that I have nothing to boast about, nothing in myself to defend, and no ground upon which to defy or deny God. Meekness is done with all that. Meekness is a work of the Spirit that frees a man from all self absorption and all boasting.

And so, a meek man can not only handle the self awareness that he is a sinner; not only handle the truth that God has called him a sinner, but, can also handle the fact that others see him as a sinner.

A sinner now born again to walk and talk in humble obedience.

A man unafraid. A fearless man. A man to be feared because he is now a man held captive by the love and law of God, and not the self-reliant law of men.