The Meek

The Meek
By M.T. Clark — P-2083 | 10/01/2026 – Today’s Audio Podcast
Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of a bright blue sky filled with rolling white clouds over the southbound lanes of the Taconic State Parkway, framed by tall pine trees on the right and a grassy shoulder on the left, comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this view from the driver’s seat during a spring afternoon drive on April 29, 2015.

Well, it’s Thursday, and I share this highway pathway photo to remind us to get on, or to stay on, the path of Christian discipleship, because the Lord who called us to it is faithful to walk it with us.

I can’t tell you the exact day the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit while driving on the Taconic Parkway, but this photo and a few others on my phone from that same drive tell me that it happened before April 29th. I took today’s photo because I was rejoicing. I wasn’t just happy because of the weather on a nice spring day. I was rejoicing over the fact that the Lord had led me into recovery, that the addictions that had run my life for two and a half decades were losing their grip, and that God was showing up in my life in ways I had never known before. The Taconic Parkway is where I first prayed “Come, Holy Spirit” and He came. Every time I drive it, I remember whose road it is and who I belong to. Meekness is what happens when a man finally gives the wheel back to the One who was always meant to be steering, and this is the road where I first learned that.

Speaking of the strength that comes from handing the reins back to the Lord,

Our series, “The Beatitudes,” continues today with the strength Jesus calls meekness, and the inheritance He attaches to it.

The Meek

Of all the words in this sermon, this is the one our culture has damaged the most. Matthew 5:5 (NKJV) tells us: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” We hear “meek” and we picture somebody timid, quiet, and easy to push around, and then we quietly decide that this beatitude is for other people. However, this is not what Jesus is talking about at all.

The Greek word is praus, and the writers of that day used it for a horse that had been broken to the bridle. Think about that picture because it is a good one. A broken horse hasn’t lost an ounce of strength. It can still run, still pull, and still carry a man across rough country. What has changed is that all that power now answers to the rider. Meekness is not an absence of strength. Meekness is strength that has come under God’s control.

Scripture proves the point with the two men it calls meek. Numbers 12:3 tells us that Moses was the most meek man on the face of the earth, and this is the same Moses who stood in front of Pharaoh and told him to let God’s people go. Nobody would call that timid.

And Jesus says of Himself in Matthew 11:29 (KJV), “for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” This is the same Lord who turned over the tables in the temple and drove out the money changers. Meekness in Scripture belongs to men with real force in them who have handed the reins to God.

So let me name what meekness is not, because getting this wrong can lead to confusion. Meekness is not being a pushover, and it is not letting people run over you or over the people God has put in your care. It is not having no opinions or no backbone. It is not silence in the face of what is wrong. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not needing to win.

That last line is the heart of meekness. Where does that kind of acceptance come from? It comes from knowing who we are in Christ. A man who is secure in his standing before God doesn’t have to defend himself in every room he walks into. He doesn’t have to have the last word, because his worth isn’t dependent upon outcomes in the first place. The person who has to win every exchange is almost always the person who isn’t sure of his identity. When we know we are already accepted, already forgiven, and already fathered by God, the pressure to prove ourselves comes off, and what remains is God given strength that we can actually put to good use.

Jesus calls the meek blessed and then attaches a promise that would have made His listeners smile, because He is quoting their songbook. Psalm 37:11 (NKJV) says, “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Notice the word Jesus keeps they inherit it. He doesn’t say the meek will seize the earth, win it, or take it by force. He says they will inherit it, and an inheritance is something an heir receives from a father who wanted him to have it. The world’s method is grabbing. God’s method is giving, and He has arranged things so that the people who stop grabbing are the ones who end up with everything.

I have had to learn this the slow way. For most of my life, my instinct was to manage every outcome, to argue my case, and to prove I was right. A lot of that came from selfish pride, but I’m now sure that some of that came from fear. Last year, due to my own fault. I lost my job. It was a change I didn’t ask for and didn’t see coming. My old instincts wanted to fight it in my own strength but by God’s grace I did something different. I prayed, I told the truth, I asked plainly for what I needed, and I left the outcome with the Lord. God provided for me when all was lost and prepared a new place for me that I could not have arranged on my own.

I have thought about that ever since, because it showed me the thing I had misunderstood for years. Trusting God with the outcomes is not losing control of my life. It is putting my life in the hands of the only One who can actually direct it to where it should go.

So how do we “let go and let God? How do we put our strength under His control?

Meekness is demonstrated in ordinary decisions that will show that we are living by faith.

We can pray before we answer, especially in the conversations we already know are going to be hard.

When offended, we can let God defend us. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:19 (NKJV) that the Lord says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” and if He has taken that job, then we can put it down.

We can give our plans to the Lord and tell Him that we would rather have His will done than ours.

We can receive correction without going to war over it.

And we can serve somebody today who has no way to pay us back, which is the most practical training in meekness there is.

Remember, meekness is not something we work up by trying to be smaller. It grows in us as we come to trust the character of God. The more sure we are that our Father is good and that He is genuinely for us, the less we need to fight for our own way. Give God the reins today. He is not going to run you into a ditch, and everything He has promised you is already written in your inheritance.

Every step we take toward the Lord is a step in the right direction. So, keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

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