Daily Devotions
The Strength of Meekness
Title: The Strength of Meekness
Reading for February 17th: Numbers 14-15
"Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
Numbers 14:3-5
When you think of meekness, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
The Reader's Digest Oxford Complete Word Finder offers these synonyms for meekness: "tame, timid, mild, bland, unambitious, retiring, docile, acquiescent, repressed, suppressed, spiritless, broken, and wimpish."
This is what most people (unfortunately) think about when they think of this characteristic. And yet Moses was described as the meekest man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). Was Moses tame? Was he spiritless or repressed? Was he a wimp?
Moses was no wimp. He's one of the strongest men we read about in the Bible. He was a bold and courageous leader of God's people.
But to the worldly minded, Moses looks weak when he falls on his face before the people in this passage. The people call for another leader to take them back to Egypt, and all Moses does is fall on his face. What kind of leader is that? Why doesn't he fight back? They are challenging his authority. Why does he fall on his face before them?
It's because meekness is strength under control. It is controlled by principle, not passion. A meek leader doesn't get easily agitated or aggravated by personal attacks.
But a meek leader won't back down from a fight; not when God's honor or truth is at stake (see Moses in Exodus 32).
The question to you and me is this... when we get angry is it because of principle or passion? Are we fighting God's battles or our own personal battles?
Father, give us the strength to turn the other cheek. Help us to know when to fight and when to fall on our face.
