July 18

Yield Yourselves

"...yield yourselves to the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God." 2 Chronicles 30:8

 The Hebrew for the word "yield" means literally to "lend a hand." Now, at first glance, that seemed a bit contradictory to me. How can yielding yourself to the Lord and lending a hand be the same thing? Yielding means letting go, submitting; and lending a hand means getting in there and doing the work; but on further reflection it became clear that the way in which we can lend a hand to God is by submitting ourselves to Him. There is not much work that can be done with an unwilling instrument. If we are unavailable, we are useless. On the other hand, if we make ourselves available to God to do with as He pleases, that is the best way for us to lend a hand. Romans 6:13 tells us that we are to "present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God." By yielding ourselves to Him, we can be used of Him and this is how we can best serve Him. Yielding ourselves is a choice we must make. When we are overcome by the cares of this life, we have made a choice to yield ourselves to those circumstances. The LORD is telling us here that we need to make a different choice. We need to yield ourselves to Him! When we submit our lives to God, we will be living in His sanctuary, in His presence, and this is the only way to serve Him.

Father, help us to put aside all the encumbrances of this world that distract us from you and let us yield ourselves to you and you alone. May we lend you a hand by submitting ourselves to you and your work. Do with us as you will and let us be instruments that serve you alone! Amen