The Beatitudes give us a picture of true blessedness, and it differs a lot from what we see in movies or read in romance novels. True blessedness is not measured the size of your house or the top speed of your car. Instead, it is that happy state in which the believer experiences God’s favour. Blessedness is about our character, not our circumstances.

In the fourth beatitude, Jesus explains that the blessed “hunger and thirst”. We’ve all felt hungry and thirsty, but chances are we are only vaguely familiar with the kind of hunger and thirst Jesus describes in this beatitude. In the ancient Near East, the average working man would only eat meat once a week. Many people lived on the border of starvation. Water was even more precious than food, with most settlements built around or near a reliable water supply. It is said that a person can survive for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

Have you ever experienced that kind of hunger or thirst? Jesus is talking about a strong, passionate spiritual desire – a need that must be satisfied. Psalm 42:1-2 famously captures this kind of spiritual longing in its opening verses: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” David had a similar longing for God: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1). They longed for God’s presence as a dying man would long for food or water.

John Blanchard highlights a particular danger in modern Christianity. Many professing believers are like cars that are running on empty. From the outside there seems to be nothing wrong with the car, but the fuel light is on, and the driver isn’t paying attention. Suddenly the car starts to sputter and then it stops. Outwardly, many professing believers live respectable lives, attending church and using religious words, but they are empty. They have no sense of urgency or need. They do not hunger or thirst for God. Most dangerous of all, they may not even be aware of it (like the church of Laodicea; see Rev. 3:17).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives us a timely reminder: “I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this while matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture you can be quite certain that you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.” Hunger and thirst are signs of life and indicators of health (see 1 Pet. 2:2). A loss of appetite is usually not a good sign.

What does a loss of spiritual hunger look like? Thomas Watson gives several examples.
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• First, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel their emptiness. In other words, he lacks the awareness of the first beatitude. He writes: “None so empty of grace as he that thinks himself full. He has most need of righteousness that least wants it.”
• Second, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel a need for it. Related to the first, but here the professing believer thinks he or she can go without it for a season.
• Third, those who do not hunger for righteousness “desire rather sleep than food. They are more drowsy than hungry.” They are in a spiritual stupor and don’t want to wake up from it.
• Fourth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “refuse their food… Such are your fanatics and enthusiasts who put away the blessed ordinances and pretend to revelations… They live on airy notions”.
• Fifth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “delight more in the garnishing of the dish than the food.” They are more interested in the eloquence of the preaching than its content.
• Sixth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “prefer other things before it, namely, their profits and recreations.” 
• Seventh, those who do not hunger for righteousness “are more for disputes in religion than practice.”

Thomas Guthrie, a Scottish preacher, wrote: “If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of God, any table better than the Lord’s table, any person better than Christ, any indulgence better than the hope of heaven – take alarm!”
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Because of Christ,
Pieter

Our relationship with God has a profound impact on our relationship with others. Those who are meek toward God, will also be meek in their relationships with others. We know what meekness toward God looks like. It means submitting to God’s providence and obeying his Word. What does meekness toward others look like?

This is an important question, and one that we must answer if we are to live spiritually fruitful lives. Consider Moses, who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He put up with their constant complaining, frequent rebellion, and even their rejection. Numbers 12:3 gives us a remarkable description of his character: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” There is no doubt that much of his impact can be traced back to this trait.

Consider Christ, who dealt so gently with the broken and endured so much hostility from his enemies. He described himself as “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Paul would later appeal to the Corinthian believers “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1). Jesus exemplified what he commended in the third beatitude.
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When we consider their example, we learn that meekness toward man means bearing injuries. A meek spirit is not easily provoked. Thomas Watson likened it to wet tinder which does not easily catch fire. In Psalm 38:12-13 David writes about the traps that were set for him and the treachery of his enemies. He, however, was “like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.” A meek man knows how to take a proverbial punch and not punch back.

Meekness means not being hasty or short-tempered. Eccl. 7:9 warns us not to be “quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” A fool is like gunpower which lights at the slightest spark and explodes to the hurt and harm of all around. The meek are not prone to anger or resentment. This does not mean that they cannot experience anger, or that they don’t experience holy anger. The meek know that even our righteous anger quickly turns into sinful rage when we let it run riot.

Meekness toward man means we aren’t malicious. Malice is mental murder (1 John 3:15: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”). Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12).

Meekness toward man means letting go of revenge. If malice is the scum of anger, revenge is what happens when malice boils over. When this happens, malice seeks to harm and ruin another. We want to hurt them. We want them to suffer. This is so foreign to the character of Christ that those who pursue revenge have reason to doubt their faith. The meek trust in a righteous God; they know God will deal righteously with those who harm his people (see Rom. 12:19). 

Meekness is also opposed to gossip. This is one of the most destructive forms of character assassination and one that has only gotten worse with the advent of social media. Eph. 4:31 is clear: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Notice how slander is linked to malice. Our words reveal what is in our heart (Matt. 12:34). James 3:6 warned that the tongue (and we should add the keyboard) can be a terribly destructive force. 

We need to grow in meekness, but how? If we would grow in meekness, we must meditate on the gospel daily. We ought to look to Jesus. He is the perfect example of meekness. One of the ways in which Christ exemplified meekness, was in his readiness to forgive. He taught his disciples the importance of forgiveness: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Matt. 11:25). Being forgiven means that we ought to forgive as well (Eph. 4:32).

Another way in which Jesus exemplified meekness, was in returning good for evil (see Matt. 5:43-48). When we feed our enemies or give them something to drink (Rom. 12:20), we are following the example of Christ. I’ve been reading 1 & 2 Samuel in my quiet-time and I’ve been amazed at the meekness of David even as Saul pursued him. He constantly gave Saul what he did not deserve, and ultimately his meekness won the day, not Saul’s anger.

Which brings us to the blessing associated with meekness: “they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). The victory is not achieved through power, oppression, or might. Christ conquered through the cross. In a similar way, our inheritance is secured by the strength of meekness – the same meekness we see in our Saviour.

Because of Christ,
Pieter