Resources/Articles
Receiving the Word with Meekness
Is it a common thing for you to put away the wrong thing to acquire the right thing? You understand the need for good, wholesome food rather than bugs, grass, algae, and garbage. Surely you realize the need to be clean rather than dirty, messy, grimy, stained, and smelly. You see the importance of replacement when a bulb is out, a belt is worn/broken, a bolt is missing, or your shoe has a hole in it, don’t you?
Understanding the things above requires submission to change, be clean, or eat the right things. There is no arguing about what you are facing. There is no resistance to the obvious. This is why meekness is not weakness.
Meekness is knowing God is right, try, holy, just, loving, and good. I am not. Therefore, we accept him as higher, wiser, and greater than us. Resisting him, you can break or fall. Surrendering to him, you stand strong, anchored, and assured. This is why receiving the word with meekness is submission to God’s word, not our will.
The big question is: Will we admit to the power of God’s word? In Psalm 119:105, it is to be our “lamp.” Psalm 19:7 says it will “convert” us. We are promised hope and comfort in Romans 15:4. James 1:21 tells us the word “is able to save your souls.” God’s wonderful word will never do any of these things if we do not receive it. Now, we may not be “willfully rebelling” and say “I won’t do that,” but when we pass over those things commanded in the word, our neglect in those areas of truth show that we aren’t receiving his word, resulting in sin (James 4:17).
To receive with meekness means submission in terms of James 1:19 - LISTENING. This was what Eli told Samuel to do in 1 Samuel 3:9. Listen for God and be ready to respond. It is not a matter of if he calls you, but when he calls you. God speaks to you through his word. Every time you open it, say, “Speak Lord for your servant hears.” We need to listen for God’s voice every time we enter a Bible class, hear a sermon, receive teaching from a friend, attend a small group study, or read personally. Listen!!!
To receive with meekness means to have a responsive spirit to the word of God. Ask yourself a few questions as you listen to the voice of God. How does this apply to me? What is this saying to me? Not “I hope the person next to me is hearing this - my mate or my child. I hope they’re paying attention.” Am I paying attention?
Consider this: Do you listen to the reproofs God sends your way? What is your response when he sends correction through his word? What about when he sends instruction on the church, on forgiveness, on self-control, purity, or worship? Do the muscles in your neck tighten with pride? Do you let the word flow off of you like water off a duck’s back? Do you respond intentionally, in humility, and in meekness?
To receive with meekness means we do not debate or complain. We can try to debate God, but the effort is useless. We may not know the meaning of the scripture. We may wrestle with understanding. Once we know what it says, we do not debate with God. He says it. He’s God. He is Lord. His word reigns in our lives.
To receive with meekness means we are obedient. This means obedience regardless of the command or responsibility given. Read the lesson of meekness and humility in Ezekiel 24:15-16. God is about to take the most precious thing Ezekiel has and commands him on how he is to receive this (vv. 16-18). God commands him not to do what is often done by those who grieve and mourn. This will be a lesson to Israel. God asked Ezekiel to do something unusual. As unusual as it was, Ezekiel received with meekness, in submission, was obedient to his word, and to whatever God said. He demonstrated what Psalm 119:60 says: “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.”
Meekness is the temper of spirit where we accept God’s dealings with us as good. It is a matter of saying, “If it pleases you, Lord, it pleases me. I don’t have to understand. I don’t have to agree. I need to obey.” When we approach scripture with this spirit, it takes “the fight,” “the debate,” and “the world” out of us. It is what Job demonstrated for us in Job 2. When Job is stripped of almost everything, his wife wished he would “renounce God, and die.” Job was not going to lose his integrity before God with all he had lost physically. He said to his wife, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speakesth. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (vv. 9-10).
Another sobering example is Leviticus 10:1-3. The sons of Aaron are consumed by fire from God. Why? Verse 3 says God was to be sanctified, set apart as holy, and glorified among the people. This would be a prime moment for the emotions of a parent to soar through the roof. Under these circumstances, a parent would most likely yell in opposition, despise God, and say, “It’s not fair!” However, the scripture says, “Aaron held his peace.” Similar to this is when a church withdraws from an unfaithful Christian, and Christians are called upon to refuse association with ungodliness. Maybe it is a rebuke or false teaching. It could be mentioning those by name who are in adultery or involved in homosexuality. All of these involve the spirit of receiving with meekness the word of God. It is a matter of accepting those instructions as good for us.
Receiving the word with meekness is not saying the most about it and doing the least with it. The word is not always supposed to bring a comfort to your heart. It is receiving the word toward obedience, humbly accepting God as the one who said it. I must believe, and I must needs follow it.
