Rain!  Not a whole huge amount – about .10 inch thus far, but steady – allowing the ground to soak up the moisture and provide the needed water to the plants.  We are forecasted to have even more these next few days.

AND Snow on the mountain, hopefully in an increasing amount, going into our water tables and providing sufficient water this summer.

Carla’s peas are being well watered, but in some ways I hope they are either washed or frozen out – a couple dollars’ worth of seeds destroyed but hundreds of dollars’ worth of produced saved this summer.

Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Reading this verse this morning really struck a chord within me.

Moses, the leaders of the Jewish people out of Egypt, the man who stood in front of the greatest earth king at the time and demanded that he release the Jews?

Moses who was in command of millions of Jews; he met with God, teaching God’s people, as he was directed, the precepts necessary to worship and obey God; he was the meekest of men?

Moses, who became THE most powerful leader of His time, HE was meek?

How can that possibly be?

The answer is in how we, as men, perceive meekness and how God perceives it.

When we look meek up in the dictionary this is what we find:  adjective, meeker, meekest.

1.  humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.

2.  overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

3.  Obsolete. gentle; kind.

Notice that gentle and kind are old terms for meekness, but we no longer use it for that.  We use the more ‘derogatory’ terms of submissive, spiritless, tame – when attacked a meek person buries his head in his hands and submits to the attacker.  To be meek is to be weak and a victim.

Meekness is weakness, not strength, in this day and age, and not a lifestyle to be led.  No one likes to be perceived as being weak and powerless.

When we think of meek people we think: acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, sheepish, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; aw-shucks, self-deprecating, self-deprecatory, self-effacing

None of these terms are acceptable to us.  It is not a virtue to be meek, but a detriment to our well-being.  It runs completely contrary to our self-worth and to our survival in life.

As a police officer part of my duty was to protect those that were weak (meek).  These people were victims who needed an intercessor and protector to keep them from harm; keep them from those that would take advantage of them. 

If we couldn’t protect them immediately, we could at least pursue that suspect and put him into the judicial system to be prosecuted and incarcerated – hopefully.

Cities create police forces, Counties have Sheriff offices, States have a police force, the federal government has a number of agencies to protect the citizens from threats within and also a military to protect it from threats outside the country.  Governments must protect their people and aggressive pursue those that would hurt them.

It is recognized that we must have law and order and when people disregard those laws to the detriment of others there needs to be a protector.  That protector has to be bold, confident and assertive – he cannot afford to be meek when it comes to the welfare of the citizens.

Meekness is considered a weakness – a police officer cannot afford to be considered weak.  It is unthinkable.

We know, though, that God doesn’t consider meekness to be an unthinkable condition – when He describes Moses as being the meekest man on earth, He does it as a show of pride and a statement of the importance of Moses’ submissiveness to Him.

God tells us that He wants us to be meek:

Psalm 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

And Jesus reaffirmed what God had said earlier:

Mathew 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Today, too many people think Jesus’ meekness meant He was not strong and forthcoming in His ministry.  Even a quick survey of the New Testament proves that thought inaccurate.  He confronted the leaders of the Jews and spoke to them as a teacher to an errant student who refused to obey.

John 7:26-28 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

²⁷ Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.

²⁸ Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.

Yet, He told us He was meek and lowly in heart – that of course was His obedience to God’s commands and not man’s.

Mathew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We are told that we are to be meek, showing that we are followers of Christ and obedient to God’s Word. 

1 Timothy 6:10-12   For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹¹ But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Yet, we are also to proclaim His word boldly.

Acts 4:13-14 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴ And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

What does it mean to be bold?  Dictionary definition is: adjective, bolder, boldest.

1. not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and daring:

a bold hero.

2. not hesitating to break the rules of propriety; forward; impudent:

He apologized for being so bold as to speak to the emperor.

3. necessitating courage and daring; challenging:

a bold adventure.

Both Moses and Jesus were meek, yet, when it came to doing God’s work they did it boldly and without excuse.  We do well to emulate both their meekness towards God and their boldness in their service and obedience to God.

When it comes to our life in Christ we must be submissive to Him, obeying His commands and following the Holy Spirit’s leading.  We meekly submit our life to Him.  We do not seek fame and fortune to the detriment of our spirit, making us seek wealth and praise from others instead of being true to God.

Meekness is just one more trait God demands of us; along with patience and the wisdom He gives us, we can refrain from being overcome by the persecution of this world and rest in Him, knowing that HE is the one in charge and the only One we must answer to when the time comes.

May we be meek and submissive to God in our life; yet, may we boldly proclaim His work within us and His love of mankind so that He will be glorified and people will be drawn to Him.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again