Life Walk Lesson 38: Gentleness
A Lifestyle of Gentleness
Proverbs 15:1-3 (MSG)
1 "A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.
2 Knowledge flows like spring water from the wise; fools are leaky faucets, dripping nonsense.
3 God doesn't miss a thing -- He's alert to good and evil.”
God’s Gentleness Brings Him Victory
Psalm 18:31-42 (MSG)
"Is there any god like God? Are we not at bedrock? Is not this the God who armed me, then aimed me in the right direction? Now I run like a deer; I’m king of the mountain. He shows me how to fight; I can bend a bronze bow! You protect me with salvation-armor; you hold me up with a firm hand, caress me with your gentle ways. You cleared the ground under me so my footing was firm. When I chased my enemies I caught them; I didn’t let go till they were dead men. I nailed them; they were down for good; then I walked all over them. You armed me well for this fight, you smashed the upstarts. You made my enemies turn tail, and I wiped out the haters. They cried “uncle” but Uncle didn’t come; They yelled for God and got no for an answer. I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind. I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.”
God’s Gentleness Brings us Rest
Matthew 11:29 (ESV)
"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."
The Gentle Whisper of God
1 Kings 19…(My YouTube Video)
Let's begin with verse three:
Elijah was afraid [many other manuscripts: Hebrew: saw]
What did Elijah see:
Verse 3 My life is threatened; I need a change of environment, and associates (Verse 11a strong wind)
Verse 4 It is enough; Lord, take my life for I am no better than my ancestors (Verse 11b earthquake)
Verse 5 He needed sleep (Verse 12a fire)
Verse 10 I (implied "we" -- he and the sons of Israel who were once also zealous) have been zealous for God because...and now I am alone (Verse 12b gentle wind/whisper) [The NIV translates whisper as a gentle blowing wind]
In ancient times death of an enemy combatant came either by man-made weapon, or, by fire.
Elijah was ready to go home. The sleep he actually wanted was death.
He'd had enough of life as he was experiencing it. It wasn't turning out how he had hoped, or believed for.
Those who worshiped God wholeheartedly were dwindling in number until he even left his own servant and went on alone. Elijah believed he alone still believed in God.
Perhaps this is a safe assumption based on circumstantial evidence when taking a forensic approach to the investigative study of Scripture -- that even Elijah's servant no longer believed wholeheartedly, thereby making the way for Elijah and Elisha's paths to cross.
Just another Observation:
Verse 8 Elijah wanted to be closer to God, so he travelled to Mount Horeb to meet with Him there.
"We are supposed to meet with God on a particular mountain" was a common belief even until Jesus spoke with the woman from Samaria, but God's gentleness and grace meets you immediately where you are in need [verse 5].
What did God see:
Verses 5. Elijah needed touch, physical and tangible, compassionate contact, loving, accepting, gentle touch -- with another being, and to eat
Verse 6. Elijah needed touch and Elijah needed food and water, so God sent an angel to cook for Elijah, placing it within reach
We could talk about which angel it was, however, as there are bazillions of them, without direct and specific revelation, as to the name of the angel sent to Elijah, chances are I'd be wrong. My guess, however, could safely be Gabriel, because of his function as prophetic, and Elijah's need, as different from Michael's function as warrior of Israel, without the corresponding need, Raphael's function of bringing physical healing, without the corresponding need, etc. (See: 1Enoch 20, where Enoch is told some of the functions of the 7 Archangels before he is taken on his second journey)
Verse 7. Elijah needed a second touch, provision, and hope that God knew about the journey ahead (Verse 13 God speaks to Elijah a second time)
Verse 8. Elijah needed strength for the forty day journey ahead, so he needed strength-sustaining food.
Verse 15-17 Elijah is sent where he needs to be, to do what he needs to do, in Damascus, Israel and Abel-Meholah, to bring about the Lord's justice. [Hebrew: Abel-Meholah = Meadow of Dancing, a village of the Tribe of Issachar and the birthplace of Elisha]
Elijah's jurisdiction as a prophet in the Council of the Lord was not just over the prophetic. His jurisdiction was over the functions of king and prophet -- of both Aram and Israel. God was reminding him of this by sending him to take care of kings first, so that the prophetic would have kingdoms to serve, and their subjects -- 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to, or kissed Baal.
Observation: God was re-establishing intimacy with God by anointing Elisha as prophet.
Elisha requests to kiss his parents goodbye; he cooks them a meal, and then Elisha leaves everything to follow God's call on his life, to minister to Elijah. He honors his parents and receives the answer to his desire when Elijah is taken up. (Honoring one's parents is the first commandment with promise.)
Of course we know the rest of the story. Elisha goes on to not only minister to Elijah, but he also ministers to others. The miracles Elisha did not only mirror those of Elijah, but Jesus also works in similar manner, each one increasing in number the previous miracles done.
Elijah not only had the promised long life; even after his own death, Elisha raised the dead simply by the dead body touching his.
God takes touch seriously. Words "sent" touch and heal or bring deliverance. How much more an in-person encounter with God, and one another. For this reason a man leaves his father and mother and is joined "as one person" to his wife.
For this reason God has made "one person" out of the two, removing the hostility between Jew and Gentile, at the cross.
For this reason there will be a new heaven and a new earth, brought together again as "one" where we can travel between heaven and earth as it was in the beginning, where only the righteous live, for all evil has been removed in all realms where the righteous live. Earth is our inheritance, but we will have access to everything God has created/will create.
God's gentle winds, His whispers: His ministering angels who work on our behalf to bring us consolation, comfort, healing, sustenance, etc., on His behalf -- for He always sends His tangible representative, because He is Spirit, and dwells in us, for we can't see Him otherwise
God's gentle whisper: of Comfort by His Holy Spirit in whatever form He comes to manifest His glory and goodness
He did it for both Moses and Elijah. And on Mount Hermon, for King Jesus (where originally the Evil and Rebellious Watchers agreed to destroy God's creation) -- God spoke softly over Jesus, This is My Beloved Son. Listen to Him.
The Gentleness of God in You
Philippians 4:5
"Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is near."
ESV translation says, 5 "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
God’s Gentleness makes us Great
Palm 18:35
"You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great."
Septuagint: "And thou hast made me secure in my salvation: and thy right hand has helped me, and thy correction has upheld me to the end: yea, thy correction itself shall instruct me."
New Living translation: "...And Your care has made me great."
Orthodox Jewish Bible: "...Thy lowliness has made me great."
Of the various translations I looked at, including the Wycliffe Translation which says for gentleness "chastising" and the NIV shows "condescension" in its marginal reference -- it seems as though this phrase was difficult to translate, and yet the context is always salvation by God's shield which pushes back the enemy of our souls, and saves us from destruction, whether that is from harm, or sin.
Context: Psalm 18
Ephesians 6:16 Amplified
"Life up over all the covering shield of saving faith upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one."
Genesis 15:1 AMP
"After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I AM your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great."
Our Heritage in Christ: Isaiah 54
Isaiah 54:5 (AMP)
"For your Maker is your Husband -- the Lord of hosts is His name -- and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth He is called."
Isaiah 54:15-17
15 "Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is not from Me. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals and who produces a weapon for its purpose; and I have created the devastator to destroy.
17 But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord."
This union between humans and the fallen angels, called Watchers, produced giants. When these giants died, their spirits remained on earth, and were called "evil spirits" -- here is how God describes them:
Specifically in, Verse 11-12
11 "And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth., and cause trouble [strife]: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses.
12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them."
But look what God does:
Proverbs 31:28
"Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." (For Israel, Isaiah 54:5)
The woman described here in this passage represents God's best for a woman. She is capable, in every area of life, to provide for her family, to make her husband and children look good, spirit, soul and body.
And look what God does for her in the end:
God's gentle shield about His Bride is about 216 feet thick, and all evil is incapable of penetrating her. {Revelation 21:17; 27} Only righteousness and peace will dwell in the Bride. For evil spirits will have no peace, forever; and no access to the Bride of Christ at the consummation of all things. In this world we will have troubles, Jesus warns us, however we can overcome just as He showed us is possible, by the Blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony.
God’s Gentle Lamb
Jeremiah 11:19
"But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, 'Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.'" [Context: Jeremiah 11]
We understand from Scripture that a prophet often experiences ahead of time what Jesus will go through in His earthly ministry many hundreds of years later -- it is, after all, how Jesus found Himself in the Book, and knew God's will for His earthly life.
The Book of Acts tells us, in chapter 8:32-33 "Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: 'He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He does not open His mouth. In humiliation His judgment was taken away; who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.'" [Context: Acts 8 and Isaiah 53:7-8 ]
This shows to me such an innocence of heart: to do the will of God so whole-heartedly so as to be completely unaware of danger, imminent or otherwise; to be so focused on doing the will of God that any other outside negative influence would go undetected, save for God revealing it; to be so oblivious to what others think, say or do against the prophet that God Himself would have to say something, or open the prophet's eyes -- now that amazes me.
In a modern culture where we take pride in knowledge and understanding, and the wisdom and discernment which makes none of us oblivious to our surroundings, or what people say, think and do on a regular basis, it seems we also need God's help in seeing with Spiritual eyes that which goes on behind the scenes, while we think everything is okay because God is with us.
When God says, They've set a trap for you and you won't even realize it, as Obadiah experienced, it makes one think twice about the journey, doesn't it? But we walk by faith with God, and not by human sight.
And the angel of the Lord tells Philip to run over to the representative of a Queen, to see if he understood what he was reading. It's okay to hear from angels occasionally. It was imperative for Joseph, so that Mary and Jesus would find a safe place to live while traps were set for their lives. Later Jesus would experience this in His ministry -- everywhere He went there was someone close to Him, trying to trap Him in His own words. Perhaps that is the worst kind of betrayal.
What an odd thing to do to Jeremiah: to put wood in his bread? But Jesus took bread, blessed it, thanked God for it, broke it, and gave it, and then allowed Himself to be nailed to the wood which had been cut down for Him.
Millenia earlier, there was another Joseph, who because of a dream ended up standing beside Pharaoh, and ruling a starving nation. A nation starving for God, and bread. There was a baker sent to prison for having put rocks in the bread, for which he died, and there was a cup-bearer, who did not extinguish the name of Joseph, who was spared for his loyalty. God is so infinitely amazing, isn't He?
Jesus, the Rock, the Wine-maker, the Bread of Life, the Gentle Lamb led silently to slaughter for our sins -- our King.
Gentleness is from the Holy Spirit
Esther 5:1-3 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
From the Septuagint
"And it came to pass on the third day, when she had ceased praying, that she put off her mean dress, and put on her glorious apparel. And being splendidly arrayed, and having called upon God the Overseer and Preserver of all things, she took her two maids, and she leaned upon one, as a delicate female, and the other followed bearing her train.
And she was blooming in the perfection of her beauty; and her face was cheerful, and as it were benevolent, but her heart was straitened for fear. And having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king: and he was sitting upon his royal throne, and he had put on all his glorious apparel, covered all over with gold and precious stones, and was very terrible. And having raised his face resplendent with glory, he looked with intense anger: and the queen fell, and changed her colour as she fainted; and she bowed herself upon the head of the maid that went before her.
But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in intense feeling he sprang from off his throne, and took her into his arms, until she recovered: and he comforted her with peaceable words, and said to her, What is the matter, Esther? I am thy brother; be of good cheer, thou shalt not die, for our command is openly declared to thee, Draw nigh.
2 And having raised the golden sceptre he laid it upon her neck, and embraced her, and said, Speak to me. And she said to him, I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy glory; for thou, my lord, art to be wondered at, and thy face is full of grace. And while she was speaking, she fainted and fell. Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her. 3 And the king said, What wilt thou, Esther? and what is thy request? ask even to the half of my kingdom, and it shall be thine. 4 And Esther said, To-day is my great day: if then it seem good to the king, let both him and Aman come to the feast which I will prepare this day. 5 And the king said, Hasten Aman hither, that we may perform the word of Esther. So they both come to the feast of which Esther had spoken."
Josephus also records the event this way, where the king's countenance was changed when Esther fainted from the weakness of fasting for three days, and the fear for her life, for coming before the king uninvited. [The Works of Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter VI, Pages 237-240]
The Gentleness of a Shepherd — Video: Fruity Knitting is a Podcast given by husband and wife, Andrew and Andrea from Australia, now living in Germany, with their daughter who is in University. It is worth watching the whole podcast, however the segment I invite you to see begins at 1 hour into the podcast.
Interesting Perspectives:
Actual segment: Meet the Shepherdess segment with Nancy Irlbeck
https://youtu.be/yC6mAtF7_NE?t=3663
A Fruit of the Spirit of God
Galatians 5:22-23 [NLT]
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Gentle Words
In Context: Deuteronomy 31-32
In the beginning of the Song of Moses, Moses and Joshua recite these words:
Deuteronomy 32:1-3 (NRSVCE)
1 "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop like rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!"
In Context: Sirach 44-45
Sirach 44:22-23 through 45:5
22 "To Isaac also He gave the same assurance for the sake of his father Abraham. The blessing of all people and the covenant 23 He made to rest on the head of Jacob; He acknowledged him with His blessings, and gave him his inheritance; he divided his portions, and distributed them among twelve tribes. From his descendants the Lord brought forth a godly man, who found favor in the sight of all
1 and was beloved by God and people, Moses, whose memory is blessed.
2 He made him equal in glory to the holy ones, and made him great, to the terror of his enemies.
3 By his words he performed swift miracles [Greek: caused signs to cease] the Lord glorified him in the presence of kings. He gave him commandments for his people, and revealed to him His glory.
4 For his faithfulness and meekness He consecrated him, choosing him out of all mankind.
5 He allowed him to hear His voice, and led him into the dark cloud, and gave him the commandments face to face, the law of life and knowledge, so that he might teach Jacob the covenant, and Israel his decrees."
Matthew 5:5 (NASB)
"Blessed are the gentle, [humble, or meek] for they shall inherit the earth."
Numbers 12:3
"Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth."
Prior to the flood, Enoch, a man who walked with God and was pleasing to God all the days of his life, was known as a gentle man, as described in the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 2. Specifically, however in verses 19-20, the words of the sinners prophesy that which Jesus would experience in His earthly ministry. [In context: Wisdom 1-2]
Proverbs 15:1 in the Catholic Edition reads "A soft answer turns away wrath..."
Proverbs 15:1-7 (NASB)
1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh [painful] word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable [good], but the mouths of fools spout folly.
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
5 A fool despises a parent's instruction, but the one who heeds admonition is prudent.
6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the minds of fools."
Provers 16:24
"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."
Jospeh and Asenath 14-16 Translated by E.W. Brooks, 1918; On Pages 44-55, you will find the account of the event of the Archangel Michael's visit to Asenath after she prayed to God in repentance. The heavenly messenger gives her the sign of God's grace in a honeycomb. It is a precious story and worth reading the whole book. E. W. Brooks speaks of various versions of the story.
There is one version of this story, which I have read, translated by David Cook, of the University of Birmingham, which includes the act of making the sign of the cross in the honeycomb before giving it to Asenath, which this particular version does not include. The message of God's grace, and salvation is not lost in this story, even with that small portion omitted.
Colossians 4:6
"Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."
