In the Shakespeare play, Macbeth, three witches prophecy to Macbeth
that he would be King. The man in his excitement ran to tell his
wife. His wife in turn convinced him of a macabre plan to murder the
King, and take the throne. Macbeth did as his wife asked him only to
end up crazy. The witches never told him how he'd be crowned king,
but taking matters in his own hands did not work out in the end.
The story reminds me of King David. David is a god example of
meekness. As a young man he had been anointed to be the next king of
Israel. King Saul became insanely jealous and for years pursued David
and his men with the intent to kill him. On two occasions David had an
opportunity to kill Saul (1 Sam. 24:3-7, 26:7-12). Twice David's
servant encourage David to kill. We see this in 1 Samuel 24:4
1 Samuel 24:4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of
which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into
thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto
thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.
Also, in 1 Samuel 26:8,
1 Samuel 26:8 "Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine
enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray
thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite
him the second time."
Could it be that God allowed things to happen in this manner so David
would take care of it in that fashion? Twice David rebuked his
servants. The first time in 1 Samuel 24:5 it says that "his heart was
smote," so in verse 6 and 7,
1 Samuel 24:6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should
do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth
mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
1 Samuel 24:7 So David stayed his servants with these words, and
suffered them not to rise against Saul…
The second time is in 1 Samuel 26: 9-11,
1 Samuel 26: 9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who
can stretch forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be
guiltless?
1 Samuel 26: 10 David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD
shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend
into battle, and perish.
1 Samuel 26: 11The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand
against the LORD's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear
that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.
Why is it so easy for us to use a spiritual excuse for doing something
that is in our own interest? Had David had not been meek, he could
have rationalized that he was within his right to kill Saul. Saul was
seeking to kill David; David could have said it was self defense, and
besides he had been anointed King already.
Our lesson says that Meekness is the absolute ceasing to fight for our
agenda and believing that God will fight on our behalf for His.
Meekness is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest. It
stems from trust in God's goodness and control over the situation. The
meek person is not occupied with self an attitude that's key to the
promise of finding rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28). In the truest
sense, then, a meek person is one who has learned to die to self, and
that takes faith, courage, and perseverance, not necessarily traits
the world would associate with meekness.
Let's look at Jesus. All along He said He did only His Father's will.
We read in Luke 22:42 that even in the garden of Ghestemani He cried
out to His Father, "if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." This is the kind of
meekness He desires for us to have and wishes to give us in Matthew
11:28.
--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com
