How do you respond when your character is attacked or questioned? When someone accuses you or slanders you what do you do? If you are a normal person, you defend yourself. You point out all the ways they are wrong and have mischaracterized you. You describe all the good you have done and all the good plans you have. You may even get angry, and counter attack. Tell them they are not perfect and remind them of all they have done that proves it.
Scripture offers us another option for dealing with attacks against our character: Meekness. We have an example of meekness in a somewhat surprising place in the life of Moses. There are other people in Scripture who we might think of as meek before we would land on Moses. In Numbers 12 we are told about a time when Moses’ brother and sister attack him. They were angry and questioned his qualifications as the leader of the people. They asked how God could speak through someone like him and not speak through people like them. It is at this point in the story that there is an interesting turn. Most of us would expect Moses to stand up for himself. Confront Miriam and Aaron to their faces; maybe cast them out of the camp. Instead we are told that the Lord heard what they were saying. Then we are given some insight into the character of Moses; that he was the meekest person on the face of the earth.
From this we learn something important about God and our relationship to him. When we are confident and assured of his love for us, we can stand in the face of adversity with a meek heart. Meekness is not weakness, but it is strength tempered with humility. Teach your children to live with this kind of confident assurance. Assure them of your love and God’s love for them. Teach them that because they are loved by God and by you there is nothing to fear and nothing to prove.
Drew Phillips, Chaplain & Director
Covenant Classical Schools & Daycare
To learn more about Covenant Classical Schools visit www.ccslion.com
