GENTLENESS – PART 1

Do any of you remember those advertisements for the [Charles Atlas Body Building Course] that used to be in comic books? The ad had a picture of the 97-pound weakling on the beach and while he is sitting there with a girl, along comes a big muscular bully. The bully pushes the weakling around, kicks sand in his face and then walks off down the beach with the weakling's girlfriend and the weakling cannot do a thing about it. The caption on the ad reads: [Are you tired of being pushed around? Are you tired of having sand kicked in your face? Just write to me.] And so, you could write to Charles Atlas and in 90 days you could learn to become a big bully yourself. Charles Atlas made a fortune on those ads because of [the male ego.] Believe it or not, I considered buying the Charles Atlas kit myself when I was much younger. I never was a picture of machismo. Now I wonder how much money we could make if we were to place an ad that said something like: [In 90 days we will teach you to be a meek person. Are you tired of pushing people around? Are you tired of always winning the fights? Well just write to me and in 90 days you can become meek.] I doubt we would make enough money to pay for the ad. Yeshua said: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. -- Matthew 5:5. Yeshua is talking about the art of learning gentleness. There are three basic areas of involvement we need to be aware of and adopt if we are going to be the meek people Yeshua describes:

1 – Involves Insight:

We really need to get a grip on what meekness is before we can go any further. Out of all of the Beatitudes this is probably the most misunderstood. Let us consider some definitions:

A – Meekness Is Not Weakness:
It takes strength and power to be meek as we will see in a minute; Yeshua is not calling on us to be wimps.

B – Meekness Is Strength Under Control:
The word translated Meek here is the same word that was used in New Testament times to describe a wild animal that had been tamed or domesticated. Imagine for a moment a wild stallion that has never been ridden by anyone. He has never worn a bridle and bit, he is as wild as they come and he is full of energy, strength and spirit. Now you take that horse and over time you tame him, you domesticate him. He becomes meek. You can put a saddle on him, his master can ride him you can put a bit in his mouth and reins over his neck and he is meek. Now what have you done to that horse? Have you taken away any of that horse's strength? Have you taken away any of that horse's spirit or his power? Have you taken away any of that horse's energy? No you Have not! The only difference between the domesticated horse and the wild one is that now, that horse's strength and energy are being controlled by his master and channelled for a useful purpose. While the stallion is wild he is controlled by himself, his wants and his passions. But the domesticated, saddled horse is controlled by his master and he has learned to obey his master's touch on his reins. When Yeshua says: Blessed are the meek, He's not saying: Blessed is the person that has no strength; that has no spirit; that has no personality and that has no energy. He is not saying: Blessed is the wimp, the timid or the coward. He is saying: Blessed is the person who has all of his strength and all of his spirit or all of his personality or energy, but they have allowed someone else to control them. And of course, for Moshiach follower this means we have placed ourselves under the control of YHVH.

C – Meekness Brings Blessings:
Why does Yeshua promise we will be blessed if we are meek? He promises the blessing because we are no longer at the mercy of our own passion, at the mercy of our emotions, our anger or our temper. We can take an insult without giving one back; we can turn the other cheek, not because we are weak, but because we are stable and strong in Adonai. We are blessed because we are free; free from bitterness, free from the need to seek revenge when we are wronged. We become YHVH controlled; we have allowed Ruach HaKodesh to direct our spirit.

D —Meekness Biblically Described:
There only two men specifically described as [Meek] in the Bible although there are others who would fit this label; the two are Moses and Yeshua:

Moses:

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. -- Numbers 12:3. No one who has studied the life of Moses would consider him a weak person. Do you remember when Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 Commandments and he saw that the people were worshipping a golden calf? Moses was hot, he was fuming and he was angry at the right time. He was angry because the people had insulted YHVH. But in -- Numbers 12:1, it says that Miriam and Aaron were speaking against Moses and personally attacked him with their words, but Moses did not respond. In fact, that is the context of the Bible saying Moses was the meekest man on earth. When YHVH was insulted, Moses was righteously angry, but when he was personally insulted, he was completely under control.