My photograph of the deer was taken from the window of my home in Texas, which was in a beautiful and awesome community centered around a very large lake. The deer were in the area long before the homes were built, and these calm and quiet gentle animals still claimed the land there as their territory. I had several bird feeders hanging from a large, low branch of a tree outside one of my windows, and the deer would come and eat the bird seed which fell to the ground; which eventually led to my buying "deer corn" just for these sweet animals. They felt safe outside my home, and I was treated year after year when the females would bring their fawns (sometimes twin fawns) to feed on the corn I provided. Where am I going with all of this? Well, for the most part deer are meek and quiet. Kinda like we should be around other people, but especially so where the Heavenly Father is concerned.
"As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God." - Psalm 42:1
A deer needs water not only for nourishment, but as a source (such as a brook or small lake or pond, etc.) which will erase its scent and trail. Just as the good Lord provided food and a means of escape for the deer, He also provides us, His children, with food for our body and soul, and He also provides a way for us to escape from whatever might harm us, physically and spiritually. Someone has said, "evil loses its pursuit trail when we are truly and whole heartedly and often in God's Holy Word, the Bible. Let our souls pant for God's Word."
The main message of this post concerns Matthew 5:5 in which Jesus tells us: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." This is part of our Lord's "Sermon on the Mount", also known as the Beatitudes. Most of us already know what "meek" means, but here are a few words from Bible Commentators on what Jesus meant here at Matthew 5:5:
Albert Barnes' Notes: " Meekness is patience in the reception of injuries. It is neither meanness nor a surrender of our rights; nor cowardice; but it is the opposite of sudden anger, malice, or long-harbored vengeance. Christ insisted on His right when He said, "If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?" And yet Christ was the very model of meekness. It was one of His characteristics. (Matthew 11:29) So was the apostle Paul meek. No man endured more wrong, or endured it more patiently than he. ... Meekness is the reception of injuries with a belief that God will vindicate us. ..... Meekness produces peace. It is proof of true greatness of soul. "
Pulpit Commentary: "...[Meekness and Humility] is an inwrought grace of the soul, and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God .(Matthew 11:29; James 1:21). It is the temper of spirit in which we accept God's dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing or resisting. (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; Zephaniah 3:12) - because it is only the humble heart which is also meek and which, as such, does not fight against God, and more or less struggle and contest with Him."
Back in February of 2017, there was an article I wrote on "The Beauty of Meekness". that had a 48 minute video sermon by Charles Spurgeon titled : "Blessed Are the Meek". If interested, here is that link:
https://inspiringnaturephotography.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-beauty-of-meekness-inspirational.html
Right now, let us consider Psalm 149:4 = "For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation."
That Psalm was quoted on the link above, but not explained in any depth.
Charles Spurgeon's comment on Psalm 149:4 : "This meekness makes a Christian attractive. If we want to draw others to Christ, we must let them see how sweetly blessed is the Christian life and how a man can be sternly upright, and yet at the same time be blessedly cheerful; how he can be dead against sin, and yet full of holy love to the sinner; how he would not to save his life, budge an inch from that which is right and true, and yet would give his life away if by blessing another he might bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Beautify us thus with salvation, and great good will come of it."
W. Bolland comment (on The Biblical Illustrator): "The garment of salvation: it was wrought by the Son of God, and like Himself, is "holy without spot." - The glory of salvation: How beautiful will he be in the palm of victory in his hand, and the crown of glory on his head, and sitting down with the wedding garment wrought by the Son of God Himself, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. "
Related to our discussion here, following is an 11 minute audio sermon by A.W. Tozer titled "Meekness and Rest" from his book (read by another person) titled "The Pursuit of God."
In the above sermon, Tozer says: "Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. To have true meekness is to become as little children."
If you go full screen on the above sermon clip, you will see comments by Tozer concerning his book "The Pursuit of God." It will bless you to read it all. Here is a portion of what he wrote: "Desire God above all! Be athirst to taste for yourselves the piercing sweetness of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing. .. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts."
{A.W. Tozer was an American pastor and author and lived from 1897 to 1963).
"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting.... Welcome it and thank God for it as a cup of blessing. " - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud." - C.S. Lewis
"They always win who side with God." - Frederick W. Taber
"The aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life; to live the life hid in Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited." - Oswald Chambers
The good Lord knows that we will never be perfect this side of Heaven, but that is what his Word tells us to endeavor to do. (Matthew 5:48). Meaning we need to rely on His strength to do so (although perfection is beyond us finite humans). It is the heart God looks at! Remember how terribly King David of old sinned with Bathsheba and on top of that, had her husband murdered !! As stated before on this blog and in the Bible - of course - God still called David a man after His own heart. (Acts 13:22) When we sin, we must feel true remorse and repent, as King David did. We must confess our sins to God, and then turn from them.... not making sin a lifestyle with no remorse or guilt.
Jesus will return very soon - as promised - to take true believers in Him as the Savior to be with Him in Heaven before the 7 year Tribulation begins.
Are you Rapture ready?
Time is short! Don't delay !
Jesus will welcome you with open arms and embrace you in His love and forgiveness !
Are you born again ? It is a spiritual rebirth - the Holy Spirit from God the Father indwells a person who is truly born again - who is truly saved by faith and belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior (Ephesians 1:13); making that person clean in the eyes of God because God sees that newly saved person as looking through His Son Jesus - the Redemption found at the Cross when Jesus shed His precious blood so that we may be "washed and cleansed " by His blood when we come to true belief in Him as the Redeemer- the Savior, the Lamb of God.
Following are salvation Scriptures for the unsaved to take to heart and act upon!
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." - John 3:36
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." - John 14:6
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16
Do not forget that true repentance is also needed ! But the main thing is - first - just to believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior !!
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Matthew 4:17
Sometimes, with some people, a true understanding of repentance comes later - after the understanding of faith in the Savior, Jesus. By that, meaning that they do not grasp everything all at once (they are babes in Christ - 1 Corinthians 3:1) - but their faith and belief in Jesus is true and they understand that, although as they grow in faith and pray and read the Holy Word of God - the Bible - they comprehend more as time goes on. That is why it is important for all believers to spend time in fellowship with the good Lord! Pray often, learn to know the characteristics and attributes of the good Lord by reading the Bible.
That is what it is all about! Not a religion, but a relationship. A close, intimate, personal, loving, living and true communing relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ! If you do that, you will grow and blossom and thrive in the Lord like you never thought possible !!
