Standing In Meekness

Meekness is a fascinating term, perhaps one of the most misunderstood concepts in our vocabulary. Originally, it is defined as “gentle,” in the sense that describes a wild and powerful horse that has been trained to respond to its master, and therefore has become useful. Meekness is strength under discipline, and has several key components that must be understood.

To stand in meekness implies that we recognize that the lordship of our lives belongs to someone other than oneself. There is One who created me for His own pleasure, and who redeemed me from the clutches of Satan, and so by the dual right of creation and redemption my life belongs to Him. Since God is the one who “thought me up” in the first place, it is only He who can define me. Only He can tell me who I truly am, and only He can impart the grace to me to become that which He sees.

Meekness is the quality of steadiness, peace, and patience that emerges out of accepting what God says about me, and standing in that definition regardless of the situations and contrary reports that we encounter. The constant effort of Satan is to convince us that we cannot trust God to give us what He has promised, and what we desire. The enemy does not care if we come to despair over this issue and simply give up in hopelessness and shame, or if we take the other extreme and set our wills to achieve our destiny by the strength of our own resources. Either extreme keeps us from the grace of God that produces in us what He requires. Satan’s greatest fear is that there will be a group of people whose hearts embrace what God has declared concerning them, who will receive God’s definition of their lives, and by grace through faith appropriate His power to step into that definition in the reality of daily existence.

The promise of God to those who are meek is that they will inherit the earth. Once again, the things we crave at the deepest levels are promised to those who will acknowledge their need for God and live life by His power according to His definitions and parameters. The inheritance that comes from God is not given to those who seize the day by dint of will and force of personality, who strategize the best or are the most creative in marketing.  Though they may seem to have the edge for a season, the fact is that the meek will inherit the earth, and the wisdom of their choices will be vindicated and demonstrated when the Kingdom of God is established here on this planet.

Gary Wiens