Caleb Koss

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Psalm 37:11 KJV (WS)

But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submit to God; who can bear insult; are silent, or return a soft answer; who, in their patience, keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. These meek ones are happy, even in this world. Meekness promotes wealth, comfort, and safety, even in this world

The Greek word translated as meek in the passage means “ gentle” or “humble”

Jesus teaches that you know you are blessed if you are “poor in spirit,” if you “mourn” over sin, and if you are “meek,” a disposition that naturally follows the first two. For if you understand and feel your need for God, you will not be bold, brash, and self-assertive. You wouldn’t be a macho man but a meek man, which is not someone who says, “Walk all over me,” but rather “Let me walk a mile or two for you.” Meekness describes someone who is gentle, humble, unassuming, and willing to serve.

The Beatitudes as they proceed become increasingly difficult. We can look at it like this. The first Beatitude asks us to realize our own weakness and our own inability. Anybody who feels that he, by his own strength, can accomplish all of God’s requirements has not started to be a Christian. No, it makes us feel as though we have nothing; we become ‘poor in spirit’, we are truly helpless. This leads to the second state in which, realizing that we are so helpless because of the indwelling of sin within us, and seeing the sin even in our best actions, thoughts and desires, we mourn and cry out with the apostle, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ But here is something which is still more searching - ‘Blessed are the meek.’

But what is meekness? Well firstly, it’s not a natural quality. It’s not a matter of a natural disposition, because all Christians are meant to be like this. Every Christian, whatever their natural temperament or psychology may be, is meant to be like this.

Meekness is an unnatural state of mind that God wants us to trust His Holy Spirit to produce in our lives.