Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
Some of my ancestors came to North America
in the Seventeenth Century, and by the Eighteenth Century, they were moving
west. We’ve always been part of that good old American ideal of pulling oneself
up by one’s own bootstraps. I grew up when the country was filled with the idea
that we can do anything if we set our minds to it, and with the idea that meek
means weak.
I hate feeling weak, and I have felt weak for most of my life, so the idea of being meek isn’t something I’d share much excitement about. Who wants to be a doormat? At the same time, do you realize how strong a doormat has to be? I’m not suggesting that anyone should lie down and allow others to abuse one, but I have to think of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his nonviolent civil disobedience. If being pelted with rocks or locked up in prison got people’s attention or changed their minds, then he and his followers would withstand being pelted with rocks and thrown in jail. They were able to respond violently, but that wouldn’t accomplish what they wanted.
I also have to think about God. I can’t imagine that God, the Father, sat by and watched all the horrible things that have happened in history, including the torture and murder of His Son, and thought, “ho hum” or “so what?” or “oh well.” He voiced a plan to destroy at least a portion of mankind a number of times, but withheld His hand. He deserves to reveal Himself and have everyone worship Him, but He refrains. God is meek. He gives grace when punishment is deserved.
I used to think that meek would be OK, if meek was this sort of detached sense that nothing done by others touches me, but meek isn’t hygienic, polite, or pleasant. It’s hard. And I think that it is at least partly because it is hard that the meek will inherit the earth. Those who can’t survive being crushed won’t be around to inherit. Perhaps it’s not God in His pity saying, “You poor thing, since you had it bad, I’m going to make it good now.” Perhaps it’s God saying, “You survived the bad, now I’m going to give you the good.”
I hate feeling weak, and I have felt weak for most of my life, so the idea of being meek isn’t something I’d share much excitement about. Who wants to be a doormat? At the same time, do you realize how strong a doormat has to be? I’m not suggesting that anyone should lie down and allow others to abuse one, but I have to think of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his nonviolent civil disobedience. If being pelted with rocks or locked up in prison got people’s attention or changed their minds, then he and his followers would withstand being pelted with rocks and thrown in jail. They were able to respond violently, but that wouldn’t accomplish what they wanted.
I also have to think about God. I can’t imagine that God, the Father, sat by and watched all the horrible things that have happened in history, including the torture and murder of His Son, and thought, “ho hum” or “so what?” or “oh well.” He voiced a plan to destroy at least a portion of mankind a number of times, but withheld His hand. He deserves to reveal Himself and have everyone worship Him, but He refrains. God is meek. He gives grace when punishment is deserved.
I used to think that meek would be OK, if meek was this sort of detached sense that nothing done by others touches me, but meek isn’t hygienic, polite, or pleasant. It’s hard. And I think that it is at least partly because it is hard that the meek will inherit the earth. Those who can’t survive being crushed won’t be around to inherit. Perhaps it’s not God in His pity saying, “You poor thing, since you had it bad, I’m going to make it good now.” Perhaps it’s God saying, “You survived the bad, now I’m going to give you the good.”
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