Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Numbers 12:3
Most people would not like to be considered meek, given the common impression they have that a meek person is merely a doormat for others to trample over and take advantage of. Even some dictionaries support that impression, one defining meekness as ‘overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame’. But you will never find the impression anywhere in the Scriptures that meekness is weakness. The Lord Jesus was certainly not weak, and yet He could say ‘I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). In His beatitudes, He could also appreciate meekness in others, proclaiming ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’ (Matthew 5:5). In today’s text, God is not criticizing Moses but paying him a great compliment.
To be meek is actually the very opposite of being timid, in terms of faith. Those who are timid are unwilling or unable to act because of their lack of faith. They simply don’t trust God. Those who are meek refuse to act on their own because of their high degree of faith. They simply do trust God. If we look into Faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11, we find much made of Moses and his faith, more than any other member of that great cloud of witnesses. And if we examine the life of Moses, we find that there were many times when he was the very opposite of a person of inactivity, including the time he destroyed the tables of the law and made the Israelites drink the water containing the debris of the destruction of the golden calf. He was a man of action when his faith demanded action. And he sets for us a wonderful example.
We will never be as meek as Moses when it comes to meekness, our text makes that clear. Just as Moses was not as meek as the Lord Jesus. Unlike our Lord, he had moments when he acted outside of faith and obedience. Never did our Saviour step outside of total submission to His Father’s will and purpose. That should be our goal, too. Our daily prayer should be to allow our steps to be ordered by the Lord. If we submit to the Bible’s definition of meekness, we will neither suffer the ineffectiveness of indecision nor endure the damage caused by barging through with our own plans and decisions. Instead, we will live in the confidence of knowing that we have our Lord’s approval for the actions that we take or don’t take.
At the end of his life, Moses had a few regrets, but not many. It will be the same for us if we follow his pattern of meekness. – Jim MacIntosh