Trusting Truth-40 Days of Psalm 37 (Day 11)

"But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Psalm 37:11

After being reminded yesterday of God's justice and patience when it comes to evil, David immediately responds to tell us the type of people who will inherit the true gifts of God and enjoy the peace that goes along with those gifts. Though this is another short verse, there are so many places God can teach us through this passage. We must always be reminded what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Therefore, each and every word from God is useful.

Understanding this scripture is not difficult but applying it is. We already know that it is a reminder that those who love God obtain the type of eternal mindset that allows us to recognize nothing surpasses the gifts we receive when trusting God. It's difficult to apply because it is much easier to trust ourselves and pursue our own fleeting idea of perfection even though this pursuit is typically done by acts that are the opposite of meekness (i.e selfishness, evil, etc...). I find it incredibly interesting that the word used to describe the people who will inherit God's land and experience His peace is "meek". Typically we think of the word meek as a synonym for the word "weak" (probably because of the SWEET rhyming effect). However, in Hebrew the word meek is translated into "anav". this word is not a sense of weakness but instead is defined as "a sense of being humble".

One of the best definitions of humility that I've heard is "humility is not thinking less of yourself, instead, being humble is thinking of yourself less". Can you imagine a place where our number one focus is a love for God and others. Even Jesus when asked by a Pharisee in Luke 10 how to inherit "eternal life" responded by saying, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind';and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Clearly, the abandonment of our own self interest for the sake of Christ and the love of others is where we begin to live in God's eternal Kingdom.

Some of my favorite stories are ones about humility (meekness). Just today on sports talk radio I heard a story about Lamar Odom of the Lakers. They were expressing just how humble this player is. Out of his love for his teammates, he decided last season to be a bench player even though he may very well be the second best player on the team. The response to this act was that the team developed into a Champion and avoided some of the turmoil that comes when mixing selfish ego's. Even more surprising is that in this world of selfishness and contentment by financial gain, he decided to do this in a year in which He would become a free agent and have the ability to obtain a huge contract financially if he played well. Because of his humility and love for others he was able to win a championship and was still blessed by a contract for four more years.

Today don't be afraid to think of anything but yourself. This isn't done by telling people how you "don't matter", or that you "aren't special" because not only are those sayings a sense of false humility but they are actually blasphemy. By telling others of our irrelevance we remain focused on our own "self" and are indirectly complaining about the way God made us. Instead, become excited by the fact that we will receive a gift from God and inherit "the land" due to our love of God through the acceptance of His Son. We will also eternally be with a number of people who love others like they love themselves. I know that if I can love those I'm in contact with as much as I love myself, they will be some of the most thought of, cared for people on Earth (not to mention they will have a new mirror and hair product). What an amazing promise to look forward to!