March 23 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

In our life as Christians we use acrostics to capture the main points of a particular subject. For example, we use the acronym ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) to give direction in our prayer life. Psalm 37 is put together in the form of such an acrostic. The first letter of each four-line stanza follows the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The first stanza begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the next with the second letter so that the last stanza of four lines begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Just as it does today, an acrostic in Old Testament times functioned as an educational tool to assist in learning and memorizing.

Psalm 37 places in our hands a key, unlocking God’s wisdom for daily living. This psalm gives counsel on the matter of life’s choices. How then shall we live? Will we cater to the pressures of the present or will we live each day as humble children of the Lord with our eyes fixed on the future? Will we envy the prosperity of the wicked or will we submit ourselves to the Lord’s will? In verse 11 the psalmist gives us sound advice: not the wicked but the meek shall inherit the land.

Those words sound very much like the third beatitude of our Lord Jesus Christ which He pronounced as part of His Sermon on the Mount. Jesus went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. He began to teach them saying, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) Christ alludes to Psalm 37:11 in the third beatitude. He did not explain the meaning of meekness in that sermon, but Psalm 37 does.

Psalm 37 unfolds the character of the meek. The meek are those who with humility and gentleness view their own role in relation to God as that of a servant. They are not proud and do not pursue their own personal gain. Their primary interest is the Lord, His kingdom, His church, His name and His glory.

In Galatians 5, meekness is listed as a fruit of the Spirit. Meekness comes into our lives through the working of the Holy Spirit. With the meek there is a future and there is hope. Let us pray that this fruit of the Spirit may permeate our entire personality.