It’s an inverted triangle. A street sign. It can keep you safe as you drive but you have to obey it. If you are in a hurry and ignore it, chances are the outcome could be messy.
Yield. In the rush, a yield sign makes us slow down. Stop. It makes us pause. It makes us consider someone or something else. Another car coming. A pedestrian.
Some days I hate yielding. I don’t want to stop when I’m in the groove. I don’t want to think about someone else when my own agenda is pressing me on. I think people who yield are not just law-abiders but they might be very brave individuals.
Yielding your car for another vehicle is certainly the smart thing to do. If you don’t, at best, you’ll be on the receiving end of a very angry driver.
Yielding in our personal lives is a whole other matter. It takes courage. It’s intentional because you have to stop. Collins dictionary says that to yield means to surrender or relinquish. Hmm.
I remember being in a Beth Moore study a number of years ago. I can’t say for sure which study but I have a note about yielding in Stepping Up. Anyway my memory is this; Beth speaking about yielding to one another. Listening to God because He’s asking us to “Submit to me on this.”
Submitting to God is brave. I hate submitting. I’m a grown-up, strong-willed child and I don’t like being told what to do. Relinquishing is hard. Especially if I feel like I’ve worked hard for whatever it is. Yielding is brave because it means trusting God with something that is probably important to you. Occasionally it means coming in second rather than first. The part of the video that stuck with me was Beth talking about letting others go before you. Like in areas where you are talented. This is hard for all of us, not just women. We compare. We compete. So we let our competition go first?
Yes, if God is asking. For me, that is one of the bravest acts ever. I have stumbled over this repeatedly. (There in the back of my mind, is Beth saying,“Yield!” at the most inopportune times). I haven’t yielded well, which is why I think it’s brave. Some people I admire most are people who have yielded. They live victorious. Free. Brave.
Surrender is really about trust. Can we relinquish our dreams to God? Trust that He will do what’s best for us? It’s standing aside so someone else can have a turn. I think this is a message for all ages. Both young and old. Life is a series of give and take. I don’t think God always asks us to yield but sometimes He does. I wonder if He wants to know how tight a grip we have on what we want, compared to how tightly we are holding onto Him.
I’ve been reading about David and Jonathan in a devotional by Beth Moore, Portraits of Devotion. It reminded how Jonathan was brave. In every sense of the word. A warrior. But he was also brave in so many other ways. He never wavered in his devotion to David. His competition. It never ceases to amaze me. Jonathan was the rightful heir to the throne. Yet he saved David from his dad, Saul. Jonathan willingly stepped aside because he knew David was God’s choice. I don’t know if I could have done that.
Do you think Jonathan ever questioned God about that? Why not me? He must have wondered. Jonathan was human after all. The bible doesn’t tell us but I’m sure he had some conversations with God. I know I would have! Whether he did or didn’t, Jonathan obeyed God’s yield sign. He willingly gave up the throne. He didn’t try to cling to it. He trusted God to work out His plan. That takes much bravery.
I have always been sorry to know that Jonathan died before David took the throne. I always wondered what would have been, if he’d remained alive. I think it would have been radical. Turned the kingdom upside down. However it wasn’t part of God’s timing or plan. It was yielded for a future King. The One True King. The rightful Heir.
In trusting God in our yields, we get the joy of participating in the kingdom plan. Like Jonathan. David. Inspiration to stop, listen and relinquish.