Yield.
This was my lesson in Leviticus. No, there’s not some big message on yielding in Leviticus the passage simply mentions the land yielding a harvest (25:6 and 25:21). But I hear, “Yield, Tiffany. Yield.” And it’s been resonating with my spirit ever since. Leviticus’ message of the land yielding a harvest spoke to me in two different ways. The harvest that’s yielded in life hinges on yielding to the Holy Spirit in your life.
What does it mean to yield?
Well, I begin to think in terms of traffic signs which I know well. When I see a “Yield” sign while driving that means I look towards oncoming traffic and pause to allow the oncoming traffic to pass BEFORE I proceed on my route. Yielding means I give the person with the right away the actual RIGHT AWAY.
We have a problem here. If God is telling me to yield that most likely means I am currently NOT yielding.
That means I am not following His leading.
That means I am not following Him.
That means somehow I’ve gotten a head of myself and if you don’t yield to oncoming traffic that can cause quite a collision, frantic honking, or you are just that jerk on the street that only cares about herself.
I don’t want any of that in my real life or in my spiritual walk.
So how does one yield?
It goes back to me asking,
Lord what would you have me do?
Lord where do you want me to go?
Lord when do you want me to do it?
Lord who do you want me to go with?
Lord who are you sending me to?
It’s getting back to a place of not barreling through life full-speed ahead, but tapping the breaks and slowing down to yield.
I will pause. I will chill as the cool kids call it. And I will wait for God to move. In Numbers God directs the Israelites using a cloud. Whenever the cloud lifted the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled the Israelites encamped (9:17). The Israelites relied on the Lord to guide their direction and didn’t move without Him first moving.
If they got ahead of themselves that would have caused chaos and the cloud that served as a compass wouldn’t have served its purpose.
And, so, I exhale. Reminding myself there’s no safer place to be, but inside God’s will.
Once I yield to God than I can yield for God.