Wild Horses Unite... and Surrender (Beatitudes part 3)

Beatitudes Devotional Series by Jamie Osborne

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth
~ Matthew 5:4, ESV

Do you desire to be meek?

One January, my dad took significant time to pray for me.  At the time, I was a brand new Christian and was trying to extricate myself from a rebellious lifestyle and all the temptations that go with it. Yet I was newly in love with Jesus and wanted to follow him.

After his prayer session, he felt like God was saying to him that I was like a wild horse. I had a lot of power and willfulness and had previously used that to do what I liked, but now that my allegiance had changed, Jesus was beginning a process in which this wild horse would learn to surrender to her master. 

Twenty years later, as a Bible teacher, I was doing a word study on Matthew 5:4: Blessed are the meek. Much to my surprise, what God was doing within me was developing meekness.

Meekness, as commonly understood, is often seen as a repellent quality. In popular culture, it is associated with being mousy, quiet, or submissive. However, in Matthew 11:29, Jesus cries out that he is “gentle and lowly in heart", using the same Greek word used for meek in this beatitude: praus.  Jesus is no doormat, yet he epitomizes the praus life.

According to Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, praus, when applied to animals, refers to wild animals who have been tamed. Such animals “have not lost their strength but have learned to control the destructive instincts that prevent them from living in harmony with others.” Thomas Constable further adds:

The Greek word prautes (“gentleness”) [i.e. the quality of being gentle/meek or praus] occurs in non-biblical literature to describe a horse that someone had broken and trained to submit to a bridle. It pictures strength under control, specifically the Holy Spirit’s control. The evidence of this attitude is a deliberate placing of oneself under divine authority.

Meekness is not weakness. Rather, it is strength under control and fully submitted to God - exactly the picture God gave my dad for me.

We see the praus of Jesus most aptly demonstrated in his desperate prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane as described in Matthew 26 (ESV). Sorrowful to the point of death, Jesus “fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will’"(verse 39). In verses 42 and 44 he prays the same thing a second and third time: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done”.

This is meekness.  Jesus has all the power he needs to avoid the cross, and the armies of heaven are at his disposal. Yet despite his grief and fear, he chooses to wholly surrender to his Father's will, come what may. This is not a display of weakness. It is the greatest display of strength. His walk to the cross demonstrated power, surrendered to God.

In the same way, Christ-followers can also be identified by their meekness. Such people retain their strength and power, but it is now under the control of the Holy Spirit, like a wild horse surrendered to a master. A meek one can “govern [his] heart and temper”, says Ambrose of Milan. Theophylact of Ochrid adds the meek one "possesses the capacity for anger but controls it, and becomes angry only when necessary”. 

The meek demonstrate an extraordinary self-control of passion, temper, word and action.  As Jesus surrendered his power to his Father, so too can we surrender our rights, anger, demands and deeds to the Spirit within.

PAUSE and REFLECT: 

Who is holding the reins of your life? Have you fully surrendered to Jesus or are you still in charge?

Sometimes, we’ll surrender everything except that one thing that we can’t release.  What do you need to release to Jesus today and entrust he’s in control?

PRAYER:

Jesus, it’s hard to give you control of the reins when I want to steer.  I confess I have difficulty trusting you over me, and often want my will to be done, not yours. Today, I choose to surrender my thoughts, actions, rights, loved ones, future [insert anything else here], and choose to trust that you’ve got me.

POSTSCRIPT

The word praus means so much to me that I even tattooed it on my arm, as did my step-daughter. It’s a daily reminder to surrender that wild horse spirit to Jesus.

Are you a wild horse too? What helps you surrender your strong will to Jesus? Leave a comment and let us know!