What God Made Me Think About This Week
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:5

This week, I wrestled with what Biblical meekness really means. Matthew 5:5 has always bothered me because I have never been meek a single day in my life. So, naturally, I decided to take this up with the Lord. “Hey Lord – surely You don’t mean that loud and boisterous people do not inherit the earth. Help me understand what Jesus is saying here.”

Isn’t it fair to say that God made me this way? That He made each of us with distinct and unique personalities? It doesn’t make sense that the many commands for gentleness and humility in Scripture are a correction of God’s handiwork, in my opinion. Is Matthew 5:5 a subtle command for us to overcorrect?

I don’t think Jesus wanted us all to be vanilla…because I am nowhere near vanilla. I’m Rocky Road with a ‘lil pistachio and lemon sorbet thrown in there, depending on the day. There has to be something more to this message.

And this is where He led me. The Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek because it was the common written language of the Roman Empire. Jesus spoke it in Aramaic, and now we are reading it in modern English.

Meekness is about being a good steward of the power and strength you have been given from God.

The meaning of the word “meek” has been mangled across that linguistic journey, and in short – Greek “meek” does not equal English “meek”.

The Greek word ‘praus’ used in Matthew 5:5 means “restrained strength or power”, not weakness like the modern day definition of “meek” implies. Biblical meekness signifies the presence of available power but the willingness to submit to God, like a trained warhorse. It involves gentleness, humility, and obedience to God by putting others’ needs and God’s will above personal desires.

The problem is that people today interpret this verse as Jesus saying that boisterous people need to calm down. But God does not create people in full color and then reward them for turning taupe. That’s not what this is, and people are using this verse as a weapon to shame people with strong personalities.

Meekness in the Bible is not a personality trait in the first place. Meekness is what happens in the split second before you respond to a perceived injustice. It’s not something you are necessarily born with; it is something you grow into – like wisdom.

Personally, I don’t have a ton of examples of when I practiced meekness, and honestly, I’m not that ashamed about it. I’m seeking and finding, though. Meekness is something I’m learning and striving toward.

I have historically been the one who unloads 20 years of emotional ammunition in an argument about socks; I’ve been the one who ripped somebody on social media because I paid them to do some work that they didn’t finish; I’ve been the one who verbally thrashed somebody being rude to me and my friends at a concert. I’ve done all that and more.

In every one of those moments, I thought I was being strong. We run things, things don’t run we. Don’t take nothin’ from nobody. Mama didn’t raise no fool.

But that’s not what meekness, or even strength, is at all. In all those occasions where I won arguments but left a bridge burned, the kind of meekness Jesus was referring to would have been not saying the words, not typing the comment, and not behaving with bullheadedness because I didn’t want to be seen as a pushover. Because the fight is not between us and other people. The fight is in our own hearts. The fight is the struggle and effort to be what God wants us to be.

The meekness is in quashing our own desires for vengeance. The meekness is trusting God’s vengeance, trusting God’s strength, and having the confidence to walk away knowing God will handle it all.

In practicing meekness, I’m beginning to understand a powerful personality in rebellion tears things down, but a powerful personality under God’s charge builds things up. Same energy, but…harnessed.

Meekness is about being a good steward of the power you have in any situation that drives you to “win” at all costs – and then deciding not to use it. When we do that, we win bigger because not only do we win, the people over whom we could wield that power also win.

So Jesus, in Matthew 5:5, is not praising wallflowers and elevating quiet people above us boisterous and rambunctious types. Jesus is saying we warhorses gotta rein it in. Meekness is about who has authority over your strength. Is it you, or is it God? I mean, this all ties into turning the other cheek, dying to self, and vengeance being the Lord’s…so this is not a new or stand-alone concept. The obvious answer to that question is that’s it’s God’s authority we should submit to, not our own.

Scriptural meekness isn’t about how hard I can hit back. It’s about how fast I can hit pause. Sometimes that pause looks unimpressive from the outside and is mistaken for English-translation-meekness. But inside, it was a full-blown war. A wild horse wants to run free, but a trained one with equal strength answers to a hand. And I believe this is the meekness Jesus was referring to, and now I’m not mad at Matthew 5:5 anymore.

Prayer for When I Want To Kick the Gate
Lord, when I start pawing the ground and want to kick the gate, help me feel You on the reins. Hold me back when I want to bolt and release my power, and teach me to trust Your strength more than my own. I want to be Your warhorse.