Psalms 37:11

"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
Psalms 37:11


The footnote to Matthew 5:5 says "The Heb[rew] in Psalms 37:11 characterizes as the humble those who have suffered."  ... I found that to be very interesting, and so I thought I would include this as the scripture of the day for today. :)  I think that suffering probably teaches meekness... unfortunately, we don't usually choose meekness when we don't have to.  The cool thing about suffering is that, even after it is over, you retain the really deep and enduring lessons that it teaches.  If you have suffered hunger, you are very much less likely to take food for granted in the future, and you have an extra dose of compassion for those who suffer hunger now.  Hopefully, if we suffer humiliation, we will be less likely to humiliate others.  Suffering happens to everyone... it is part of our refining process, making us into wiser, more compassionate people.  We can't escape suffering in this life, but we can choose how to react to it... what lessons we learn, and how it changes the actions we take in the future.  Thankfully, no suffering is forever, and someday when we have learned our lessons well, we will inherit the earth... and delight ourselves in "the abundance of peace."  (Doesn't that sound cool?)  ... and we'll treasure it all the more because we have experienced so much non-peace in our lives.