I am a recovering control freak. There have been countless times in my life when letting go, yielding to the Lord, was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do. I like everything to be in order and a plan in place. I struggle with chaos and unorganized tasks. This internal desire to control everything slowly began to fade after I had my first child.
Control and Parenthood
There is nothing like parenthood to show you that you do not have any control to begin with. During pregnancy, you worry about the little one inside of you even though you have no control over the outcome or the plan for your child’s life. Yielding to the Lord begins with correctly thinking about the God who loves you and has your best interest at heart. Yielding to the Lord begins with recognizing that we can make requests to the Lord all day long, but at the end of that day, we recognize God knows what is best in every situation.
Remember my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison.
I continually remember them
and have become depressed.
Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for His mercies never end.
They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!
I say: The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in Him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the person who seeks Him.
It is good to wait quietly
for deliverance from the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.
Lamentations 3:19–27 HCSB
In the verses above, we see where the writer is lamenting about all that has gone wrong. He is pouring out his heart to the Lord in prayer, sometimes begging the Lord to move in mighty ways. However, verse 21 is the game-changer. With one simple word, “yet”, the writer releases control, yielding to the Lord. He goes from praying with clenched hands to praying with open hands. This is where, after all his lamenting, he recognizes that his mindset must be on the hope that comes through God, not on the circumstances around him.
What Does Yielding to the Lord Mean?
When you yield to the Lord, you are giving over any ounce of control that you think you may have and recognizing that God is in control of the smallest details of our lives. Yielding is also recognizing that God is good and His plans are good.
Many times I want to be in control because I think my plans are the best ones out there. When God chooses not to answer my prayers the way that this control freak thinks He should, I can become frustrated and bitter. However, yielding directs my thinking toward the right path.
Yielding in Prayer
Yielding says, “Lord I have told you my plans, but I am trusting your plans for my life because I know that your plans are better than mine.”
This prayer is often the hardest when it comes to those we love. We think we know what is best for our children, our spouse, our parents, our siblings, etc. However, God created them and truly loves them far more than we ever could imagine. Yielding to the Lord’s plans and purpose for them is our best option.
Yielding comes from lamenting our souls to the Lord and also recognizing that He is putting plans in motion for our lives that we cannot even begin to fathom. Yielding is also resting and trusting that the God you pray to hears you and has your best interest at heart. Giving over control is difficult, but is the most rewarding choice you can make in your prayer life. Let go, rest in the “yet”, and yield to what God has in store for you.
This devotion originally appeared on Devotable written by Erin Woodfin
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