Yield Yourselves

At long last I now have a new computer. I wish to thank all of you that responded to my inquiry as to the readers of my blog. I was quite surprised to learn of how many there are of you that read and profit from these meditations. Therefore, I am encouraged to continue with this project. But please be advised that the next six weeks are going to be quite hectic for me. I have three trips that I will be taking, a big weekend with the church here, and a wedding to perform. So do not look for these meditations to be very regular during this period of time.

For my daily Bible reading I have been going through the book of 2 Chronicles. Today I came across this passage that I would like to make some comments on:

2 Chronicles 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

May I suggest that you read 2 Chronicles 30 to get the setting of what I wish to present. The words I have cited were found in the letters that King Hezekiah and his princes sent “throughout all Israel and Judah” calling the people to come “to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jersualem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.” Prior to this, their fathers had been rebellious against God and, as a result, had been given up to desolation. In calling the people to come to keep the passover at Jerusalem, the people were called to yield themselves to God.

Yield – To surrender, give way, submit.

For the people to come up to Jerusalem to keep this feast would be an act of surrender, of submission to God. By their yielding themselves to God, the Lord would turn away the fierceness of His wrath from them. It is interesting to note that yielding to God is placed in contrast to being stiffnecked.

Stiffnecked – Obstinate, stubborn, inflexible, haughty.

Their fathers had been stiffnecked. As a result, God had been at war with them and had brought them to desolation.

The verse we are considering connects yielding to God with entering His sanctuary and serving Him. Under the Old Testament that meant coming up to the temple of God in Jersusalem to observe the passover according to the instructions of the law. For us today who live under the New Testament it means coming to the church of God, the assembly of the saints, to keep the ordinances given to the church to observe in the New Testament. You see, coming to church should be an act of surrendering ourselves to God, of submission to His will. To fail to do this is an act of stubbornness. If the attitude of surrender is missing from our service, then it will not be acceptable to God. When speaking of the service of ministering to the saints, Paul commended the believers in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 8:1-6). They had given abundantly to minister to the saints and they had done so with abundant joy. The key to this joyful service can be found in the attitude with which they approached it.

2 Corinthians 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

You see, service to God begins with the surrender of ourselves to Him. Yielding ourselves to the Lord our God comes first. Only then will we find joy in His service. Nobody, who enters into the service of God begrudgingly, enjoys it. Such service brings no delight to God and no joy to the soul.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

So when you come to church, do so with the attitude of one who is surrendering himself to God. It is according to our sinful nature to be rebels. If you are stiffnecked and rebel against God, you are going to have a battle with Him. And He will win! He is a lot stronger than you are. So the best thing to do is give up the fight.

Are you in a state of desolation today? Examine yourself for some area of your life in which you are being stiffnecked. Yield yourself to God and enter into His sanctuary and serve Him. Do this and you will find that instead of the misery of desolation, you will experience great joy as did those souls in Hezekiah’s day, who yielded themselves to God, entered His sanctuary, and served Him.

2 Chronicles 30:25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.

26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.