Meekness:
Strength restrained. People who possess this character attribute are committed to gentleness and quietness. As opposed to those who are loud, showy, and arrogant whose only strength is often in their loud words, the meek possess a strength that is much deeper and is often expressed in sacrificial love for other people. Most often found in the people you don’t ever really notice.
As you can imagine, meek people don’t seem to get very far in our world. Those who are meek are often overlooked, ignored, and at times, walked on. It doesn’t make sense to be meek. But, Jesus’ way of doing things didn’t make a lot of sense either. Unlike Harvard University, a Fortune 500 company, or professional football teams who are looking for the best and brightest, the strongest and the fastest, Jesus said that His followers would be made up of the weakest and poorest. The last person you would pick for your team would likely be Jesus’ first pick.
Imagine this, you are in charge of selecting a person for a very special assignment. The assignment: to free over one million men, women, and children from slavery. The candidate will lead those people across miles of hazardous terrain to a place where they can live in peace. It must also be noted that other people currently live at that location. They are strong, well-fed, and live in well-defended cities. Your candidate must lead his unarmed former slaves to a military victory against them.
What sort of possible candidates would come to your mind?? It would need to be someone incredibly courageous, with the ability to motivate people with their eloquent words. It would be important that they also have military and leadership experience. Who would you choose? George Washington? Napoleon? Iron Man?
How about a gentle-natured shepherd with a speech impediment?
That’s who God selected.
A writer of the Torah described him like this:
“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the people who were on the face of the earth.”
-Numbers 12:3
Moses wasn’t just a little quiet and slightly gentle. He was the most gentle and quiet man on the planet! God often selects meek people to change the world. A couple of thousand years later, Jesus would say it like this:
“God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them.”
-Matthew 5:5
Although meekness rarely seems to get you ahead in this world, it does seem to matter greatly to God. God likes underdogs. So, if you are feeling trampled on and overlooked today, don’t get discouraged! God may be preparing to you change the world!