“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Christ continues His teaching on the Beatitudes with the third blessing. After a person becomes poor in spirit and after they mourn and receive forgiveness, they recognize the need to seek further light and knowledge. They accomplish this by conversing with the Lord, becoming meek. What the Lord requires of us in order to be meek is to recognize that He is the only authority that we owe true allegiance. He is the source of truth and the one we look to for further light and knowledge. In acknowledging that, we also realize that we must be obedient to His word– however that comes to us.
Enos relates that after he heard the voice of God tell him that his sins were forgiven and that he would be blessed, he asked: ” How is this done?” (Enos 1:7). The Lord answers him, ‘Because of thy faith in Christ.” It was because of his meekness and humility that Enos was able to receive an answer to his prayers. Not only did he receive answers to his questions, but he was able to converse with the Lord. Only through his faith, humility, and meekness, evident by his prolonged and efficacious prayer was he able to elicit a response from heaven. Those that exalt themselves and think themselves righteous will never be able to experience the Lord in this way. Isaiah has something to say about the righteous and exalted souls that do not think they need a relationship with the Lord:
“Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isaiah 50:11)
The meek can be trusted by the Lord because they will do what the Lord wants them to do, and not assume they know better. Being meek in the Lord’s mind is so much more than the world understands the word. To be meek in the celestial sense is to follow the Lord and not just listen but DO what the Lord asks you to do, even when you are not comfortable with what he asks.
“Lying spirits appeal to your pride and vanity. God will chasten you and require you to be meek and serve both Him and your fellow man. Lying spirits will tell you that you are some great and mighty person. God will remind you that only He is strong, but He uses the weak things of this world to accomplish His work. Therefore, no one can take credit but Him for whatever is accomplished. Proud, foolish and vain people have never built Zion. Only the penitent, the meek, and the humble can qualify to be around as God does His work.”
“Until the heart is broken and willing to accept the sad news that they are wrong and God is going to correct them they are not likely to get an answer other than they are right. In fact they’ve been right all along. Answers from a meek and lowly Lord come with the greatest accuracy to the meek and lowly inquirer.” (Denver Snuffer)
“…my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take not advantage of your weakness; And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, them will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12: 26-27)
“And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations—Wherefore he that prayeth, whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances. He that speaketh, whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey mine ordinances.” (D&C 52: 14)
The meek inherit the earth because they are the only ones who do not have an agenda, other than to do the Lord’s work. And they do it in the way they are taught and instructed through the Holy Spirit, and eventually by the Lord Himself. The meek seek out the Lord and plead for more light. We have to plead, labor, and “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2: 12) because it informs the Angels, the Lord, and us that we are willing to pay the price to know Him. The proud will not be able to inherit the earth because they are the center of their universe, and you can’t have but one person at the center.
A Fable
The High King had a son that was very proud and treated everyone with less than respect. He had been privileged all his life and so had taken on the attitude that the world was created for him; he was the center of the universe. You probably know the type. The king was aware of this flaw in his son’s character but was at a loss how to help his son grow out of his self centeredness. He sent his son with a sealed message to one of his most trusted vessels who ruled a kingdom on the borders of his domain. This man was a duke who was a very powerful lord with vast lands and a large army to keep order and to keep invaders from causing mischief. He was also a very wise man in his own right. He received the king’s son with joy and with ceremony proper for receiving his Lord’s son. He opened the sealed letter and read it.
“Duke, I place the health and welfare of my son in your hands. I desire that he learn from you humility and grace which he will need if he is ever to govern in my place. He needs to learn that he is the servant of the people in the kingdom and that there is great responsibility with the great privilege he has been born. I do not want him to command any of your battalions, nor to have any authority whatsoever. I ask that you place him under the service of your stable master. He is to work as the lowest order laborer and perform all the menial work of that laborer. If he learns to submit, humbles himself, and performs to the satisfaction of your steward without complaint and without trying to invoke his status as the king’s son, then, and only then, send him back to me.”
Meekness is realizing that you don’t have the answers, in fact, you don’t know very much at all. The older I get, the more I realize I don’t really know much. Meekness is strength, because light and truth will pour into you and through you from the source of that light. The Lord knows that you can be trusted to do His will and not your own. You will be entrusted with thrones and principalities; you will inherit not just the world, but everything.