The Beatitudes – The Meek (Part 2)

Jesus commends meekness in his third beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). Meekness is often mistaken for weakness, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus was meek, yet we do not find him afflicted by the same moral weakness or cowardice that seems to affect so much of our modern society. Jesus stood firm against hypocrites, yet he also dealt gently with the broken.

How, then, should we define meekness? Much like love, we recognize meekness by what it does. Thomas Watson helpfully points to two essential features of meekness, especially as it relates to God. First, it implies submission to God’s will and second, conformity to God’s Word.

How do we submit to God’s will? We see this particularly in how the Christian submits to God’s providence in his or her life. Providence, according to the Westminster shorter catechism, is God’s “most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.” Providence means that God is active in his world and in our lives. He preserves, guides, and provides. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains, God’s providence “is a description of His continuing activity, of what He does in the world, and what He has continued to do since He made the world at the very beginning.”

Submitting to providence is not always easy. Job understood this better than most. He faced soul-crushing calamity, but his response was surprisingly meek. He said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). And again, after receiving more bad news, he said: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). On both occasions we are told that “Job did not sin with his lips.”

Jesus Christ is the supreme example of meek submission to providence. Before Jesus was arrested, we are told that he prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39). Christ submitted to his Father’s providence, even as he wrestled with its frightening implications.
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This wasn’t fatalistic resignation but trusting submission. Meekness says “not as I will, but as you will” because it trusts that God is in control and that he is good. We might not be able to make sense of God’s providence, or see God’s good purposes, but we trust him. Why can we trust him? Because he “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). Such a God has earned my trust.

In the same way, meekness does not just submit to God’s providence but also seeks to conform to God’s revealed will. This means that we don’t oppose, argue with, or resist the Word, but conform our thinking to God’s. James 1:21 captures this beautifully: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

There may be passages of Scripture that we find difficult to understand or hard to apply. We wrestle, ask questions, and search, but the goal should never be to “get around” the text. Our aim is to understand and obey. Meekness not only trusts God’s providence but also his commands. He is good in what he does and in what he requires.

Such is meekness toward God. That meekness then overflows in our relationships with others, which we’ll explore next.

Because of Christ,
Pieter