INTRO: In our last message we looked at the first part of the third beatitude, “Blessed are the meek.” We said that meekness is not weakness, but controlled power. Let me give you once more what A.W. Tozer once wrote, “The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto", end quote.
We have said that these beatitudes are progressive in nature. That is, poor in spirit comes first, which leads to mourning, which then leads to meekness. I mentioned that the word often translated ‘humble’ in the OT is also translated to ‘afflict’. So Psalm 119:67 says, “Before I was afflicted (anawv, or humbled) I went astray, But now I keep Your word.” We must often be afflicted before we keep God’s Word. When we stray from the Lord, He often has to afflict or humble us. In this way He teaches us to keep His Word. As I see it, humbling leads to meekness. When we become poor in spirit and mourn, we are humbled. This leads to meekness. |
