The Triumph of Meekness (Psalm 45)

Reading: Psalm 45

In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness…

(Psalm 45:4)

Meditation:

I paused when I came to this verse in Psalm 45, and eventually underlined it. It was the word “meekness” that did it. This psalm is about kings and the glory of their rule. But we don’t often think of kings and rulers riding out in victory to promote meekness, do we? That’s what made me pause.

It made me slow down because the tones of our culture are the opposite of meek. As the election cycle heats up, as protesters take to the streets, as rioters take advantage of the disruption, as Covid rages, and as hurricanes move the sea inland—outrage, accusation, condemnation are the qualities of the public square. Whatever we’re left with after the battle, it doesn’t matter, so long as we’ve won. Meekness goes out the window as a strategy.

Jesus was called meek, as was Moses (see Numbers 12:3). In fact, this psalm is applied to Jesus in Hebrews 1; it finds its ultimate fulfillment in him.

One of the questions I have, then, is how meek am I? Do I value meekness? Or do I see it simply as a weakness, one that might cost me the battle? Do I trust Jesus enough to embody his values when the world tells me otherwise?

Prayer:

Jesus, we don’t think we can win that way. But we didn’t think you could win by dying, either. Your ways are not our ways; your ways are higher than our ways. Teach us to follow you and recast us in your meek image.

Amen.