How can two words be so different yet so alike? Over my time in prayer this year I have challenged myself to specifically seek an answer to one main idea: who is God to me? In that question are about 1,000,000 sub questions that I do try in my earnest to answer daily, although I am repeatedly unsuccessful. BUT, what is my view of God? Who is he to me? What do I see through my minds eye when I think of Him? In this process I have found myself consistently thinking about the relationship between these two words: meek and majestic.
It has not always been easy for me to do this. For most of my early life I spent my days imagining God as one who speaks to me as a condemning man. The type of man that when I have done something wrong or when I have fallen short – He would be right there to get in my face and say:
“You messed up, kid.”
I have thought back to when I was in college with absolutely no desire to do anything productive in life. I was in a professional degree program and I had absolutely zero inclination to put forth effort because I would sit in a dorm room and wonder “why am I here?” I thought I was ready for college, ready to get out of central New York, ready to be on my own and I could not have been more depressed in life. As I started to fail exams one after another, and eventually, class after class – the condemnation would overtake me. I’d start to hear in my head how I would never be enough, I would never make it out of the school, and I would never be able to pay the debt I was accruing.
And you know what the saddest part of it all was? I ACTUALLY believed that was God’s voice. I ACTUALLY believed that that was the character of God, and in Him, the character of His son, Jesus Christ.
Throughout the bible we are taught about the character of God and we know that to see the Son is to see the Father. But one example I thought of is from 2 Corinthians; here Paul addresses the church:
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:1 ESV
The Merriam-Webster definition of meekness is: a mild, moderate, humble, or submissive quality.
My favorite part is that in the example sentences it is most often a word that is painted with negativity. Every dictionary service leaves you feeling like, “who would ever want to be meek?” According to vocabulary.com, “the adjective meek describes a person who is willing to go along with whatever other people want to do, like a meek classmate who won’t speak up, even when he or she is treated unfairly. A meek person can also be humble, but these words aren’t quite synonyms.”
I see this completely differently. To me, the meekness of Christ is also the humbleness of Christ. They are completely synonymous. It is in the meekness of Jesus Christ I see the love of a Father but also see a humble King who was patient and long-suffering.
Paul implores us to see this in Philippians 2:
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 ESV
Jesus says to us:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
That doesn’t depict a weak pushover. That depicts a savior. A King who was in heaven and left his throne to come to earth and take on our shame and guilt so that we could be made righteous. It is in that perfection that I see the love that I needed throughout my childhood, the love that I needed throughout college when I was failing out, when I was almost kicked out. The love I needed when I walked away from church as a young man, the love I needed when I started filling the God-sized hole in my heart with other things to numb my pain. It points me to the majestic side of Jesus.
He is both the lion and the lamb. Jesus Christ left His throne in Heaven to take on flesh here on earth, live the perfect life that as our pastor loves to say, couldn’t live, wouldn’t live, and I’m ready for it – aren’t living. He then was murdered on my behalf to pay for the debt and sin I would never be able to atone for. He was laid in a tomb only to rise three days later and trample death to show that even the grave, even death itself has no rule over Him. He is ruler of all things, but, He doesn’t rule over us like a dictator. His love, not His punishment, is a fountain that will never run dry. He pursues us even when we don’t pursue Him. It has taken me so many years to understand this but the Lord never removed His hand from me in all of my days. He never left my side in any of my sin, at any point of my life.
It is in His majesty that I bow before Him to honor Him in His goodness. I have realized that in our weakest moments, our greatest trials; that is where our truest picture of God is seen. What we think of God is made crystal clear when we are facing a crucible and if you do not understand on a fundamental level that God is love; you will never view Him for who He truly is. God is love should not be a banner for any movement other than a movement to get on your knees and humble yourself before His majesty. God is love means that even in your weakest moment, in your deepest sin, in your deepest travesty, He is THERE. He is not there waiting to take you to hell, He is not waiting to kick out your knees from under you or tell you you’ll never make it; that you’ll never be good enough. He is there to wrap you up in His arms of mercy and grace and tell you:
“Son, daughter, I LOVE YOU. Come to me. I won’t leave, ever. Give your burdens to me, I’ve already trampled death.”
That is how meek is majestic. That is how God is love. It is unending and when you open yourself to it, your heart will be overwhelmed by it. His love FLOODS our entire being. So I close with a question, how do you view God? What crucible are you in that your view of him has been so warped?
Reach out to someone. If you’re a member of a local church seek out a staff member. Don’t walk your trial alone, we weren’t designed for that.
God bless you,
BMT
The Fire & The Flood 