Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
How can a man be meek in an evil world?
Must he look upon injustice idly — or, worse, indifferently? How can he be gentle among the cruel, restrained among the ruthless? How can he live amongst wolves without becoming one? Whom does Jesus teach will “inherit the earth”?
Evil times befall the world when men misunderstand meekness. When a man sees the powerful exploit the vulnerable, the wealthy trample the poor, the defenseless being led to the slaughter, Impostor Meekness suggests we sign a peace treaty with tyrants. We do nothing about it. His bargain bans all resistance and whispers, “Gentle, only gentle,” but means, “Timid, only timid.” He sends a man scurrying from the front lines, reminding him with every step, The meek shall inherit the earth.
Or so I’ve imagined. I’ve struggled to reconcile meekness with strength, with backbone, with manhood.
Yet, strangely enough, the meekest men in the Bible were the most daring. Moses, for example, was the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3), yet God used him to punish a superpower, enforce the law, and confront idolatry — melting Israel’s golden calf and forcing the people to drink it. Great meekness did not always make him Mr. Rogers.
And this beatitude of meekness is authored by two of the manliest men in the Bible: the Lord Jesus citing King David. Christ quotes David in Psalm 37:11: “The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” If we think meekness is a beta virtue for those indifferent to evil or too scared to stand up to it, Psalm 37 helps clarify how the meek think and believe in an evil world.
Masculine Meekness
David himself possessed a masculine meekness. When he didn’t retaliate, it wasn’t because he couldn’t retaliate. Some men appear meek because they can’t humble their enemies. But David is that dude; his reputation precedes him. He is known as “a man of valor, a man of war” before he ever fights the giant (1 Samuel 16:18). Meekness checked real might and managed anger that could have done something about it.
David wasn’t only meek. He fought. He confronted. He acted like a man. He could be meek precisely because he was dangerous. His meekness didn’t discharge his duty to be strong and courageous but discerned it. He knew when to fight and when not to; when to draw the sword and when to sheath it. He was tender with the flock and yet grabbed lions by their beards and slew them.
He was, as spoken of the Arthurian knight Lancelot, “the meekest man that ever ate in hall among ladies” and “the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.” C.S. Lewis comments that such a hero “is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth” (Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces, 717).
That is what I was missing. A man is free to be fully meek but must not be only meek. He welcomes children and shows compassion to the sinner, yet he knows when to pick up the whip and clear the temple. This man is a man not of nature, remarks Lewis, but of art — and we might say of grace.
Throughout Psalm 37, David calls for meekness:
Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers! (verse 1)
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. (verse 3)
Delight yourself in the Lord. . . .
Commit your way to the Lord. . . .
Be still before the Lord. (verses 4–5, 7)
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! (verse 8)
Wait for the Lord and keep his way. (verse 34)
He trusts God instead of striking back. Yet if that is the only message we have for men in an evil world, we have abridged Psalm 37. David gives us more help to obey, to let righteousness restrain our hand. He hands us two promises that meekness grips instead of revenge.
1. The Promise of Hell
When we ask, “David, how could you control yourself when Shimei, Nabal, Saul, Absalom, and others injured you?” he doesn’t answer that men should always be gentle, but that God would always be just. “He will act.”
Read Psalm 37 again. Be still; trust God; don’t fret; be meek — why?
[Evildoers] will soon fade like the grass. (verse 2)
In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. (verse 10)
The Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming. (verse 13)
Their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken. (verse 15)
Like smoke they vanish away. (verse 20)
Those cursed by him shall be cut off. . . .
The children of the wicked shall be cut off. . . .
You will look on when the wicked are cut off. (verses 22, 28, 34)
Transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. (verse 38)
The Lord loves justice. (verse 28)
David could leave the matter in the hands of the One whose indignation burned hotter than his own. The mighty hatred of God against the wicked allowed the sword of retaliation for personal grievances to slip from his hand.
Or, as Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it [give space] to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). In other words, “Put your weapons away and move aside — to give space for my cannons.” The Lord’s promise to repay frees us to retaliate with food for a hungry enemy, drink for a thirsty persecutor. We overcome evil with good because he will overcome evil with wrath (Romans 12:19–20).
Do you trust his justice? Show me a man who does not believe in the vengeance of God, and I will show you a man who cannot be meek. How can he be? He will either numb himself to evil and blame virtue, or he will think religion but hollow sentiments and drench his hands in blood. Meekness depends upon divine justice and does not blush about hell.
2. The Promise of Heaven
Secondly, and captured beautifully in our beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
This promised land is given to soldiers that love peace. They are a beautiful paradox. They are soldiers — strong and courageous to confront evil — but also men who “repay no one evil for evil” and men who, “if possible, so far as it depends on [them], live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:17–18).
Throughout Psalm 37, God makes guarantees to those who trust him in their evil day.
[God] will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday. (verse 6)
The Lord upholds the righteous. (verse 17)
Their heritage will remain forever;
they are not put to shame in evil times. (verses 18–19)
Though [the righteous] fall, he shall not be cast headlong. (verse 24)
[God] will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever. (verse 28)
The Lord helps them and delivers them . . . and saves them. (verse 40)
In short, “The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace” (verse 11).
God will not overlook any injustice, any insult, any corruption of the wicked. Trust him. Neither will he overlook any forbearance, any endurance, any covering over of personal grievances by the righteous. Trust him. When injustice threatens others or insults God’s name, even the meekest of God’s sons act. But often, when the injury is our own to bear, we do so by praying for our enemies, not punishing them, because we expect justice for them — perfectly meted out at the cross or in eternity — and we expect gracious rewards for our long-suffering according to God’s promise.
Man of War, Man of Peace
So, how can a man be meek in an evil world? How can he live among wolves and not become one?
He is lowly at crucial times in the way of David and Moses. He does not use meekness as an excuse for cowardice or apathy, but at God’s command he stands down and does good, trusting his promises of coming justice and reward. Does this describe you?
We must all learn from the Lord. No man was ever stronger and meeker than Jesus, the Lion of Judah’s tribe, who stood silent as a lamb before his shearers, offered instructions for his mother’s care with dying breaths, and prayed forgiveness — not curse — for those murdering him. To the tempted, the vengeful, the embittered, and the betrayed, Jesus cries, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
Such Christians conquer themselves by trusting in him. These are the men and women whom Jesus promises will one day, and one day soon, inherit the earth.
Desiring God