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Jesus is clear that I am fortunate if I am meek and gentle. I will in fact inherit the earth according to the “Jesus Manifesto” (Matthew 5-7).

According to our dictionary, to be meek means you are “showing patience and humility, gentleness … easily imposed upon, submissive”. The meek one does not throw fits or fly off the handle under pressure. A good synonym is “gentle”. A meek person is under control.

Jesus challenges us to learn from Him. Jesus is gentle. Jesus is humble. Jesus shows me how to have compassion and love.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29

Here are some biblical examples of meekness

  • Moses – Numbers 12:3 — 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)
  • David – 2 Samuel 16:11–12 — 11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son who came out from me seeks my life; how much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for the Master has told him. 12 “Perhaps the Master will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.”
  • Ahab – 1 Kings 21:27 — 27 It came about when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently.
  • Job – Job 1:21 — 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Master gave and the Master has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Master.”
  • Jeremiah – Jeremiah 11:19 — 19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more.”
    • Jeremiah 26:14 — 14 “But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.
  • Mary, the mother of Jesus the Messiah – Luke 1:38 — 38 And Mary said, “Behold, the slave of the Master; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
  • Stephen – Acts 7:60 — 60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Master, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
  • Paul – 2 Timothy 4:16 — 16 At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.

Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control. As the writer of Proverbs says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city” (16:32). In contrast, the individual who is not gentle is likened to “a city that is broken into and without walls” (Proverbs 25:28). Gentleness always uses its resources appropriately, unlike the out-of-control emotions that so often are destructive and have no place in your life as a believer.

Don’t equate gentleness with cowardice, lack of conviction, or mere human niceness. It’s a virtue that draws courage, strength, conviction, and a good disposition from God, not from self-centered human resources. Jesus clearly could show His displeasure. Imagine being a merchant in the temple getting whipped and chased out. Imagine being a religious leader and getting called a snake.

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