face : life with a ‘yes’ to God

A little while ago I heard a song that was new to me. It’s been in my head ever since. “We say yes. My soul says yes. Whatever you have for me, whatever lies ahead. We say yes.” 1

The Bible is full of examples of people whose souls said yes. 

Noah’s soul said yes - to building an ark in the face of ridicule because he trusted God’s voice.

Abraham’s soul said yes – to journeying to an unknown land and future because God spoke to him. And it said yes again when he was willing to sacrifice his long-awaited, promised son, because God asked him to.

Moses’ soul said yes – to leading the Israelites out of Egypt, to walking with God through the wilderness – he took some persuading and he didn’t do it perfectly, and nor do we, but it started with a yes. 

The prophets’ souls said yes to speaking God’s word, often in difficult and seemingly hopeless situations to people who didn’t always want to listen. Sometimes they did it willingly, sometimes like Jonah they did it when they realised that saying ‘no’ wasn’t really an option. 

Mary’s soul said yes in response to the angel’s visit calling her to obey an extraordinary command – so joyfully that she sang the Magnificat. And Joseph’s soul said yes when he took Mary to be his wife. 

The disciples’ souls said yes when they left their fishing nets and tax booths, their families and their familiarity to journey with Jesus. 

The Samaritan woman’s soul said yes, when she met Jesus at the well and went on to share what she had learned with others in the town, so that they could say “We know that this man really is the Saviour of the world” (John 4 v 42). 

Ananias’ soul said yes, after a bit of double-checking, when he heard God in a vision telling him to go and find Saul and lay his hands on him. 

Those are just a few of the examples that popped into my head. I’m sure that you can think of others. Saying yes doesn’t mean never asking questions of God, but it does mean being willing to listen and to act.

A few years ago I was introduced to the Methodist Covenant Prayer, which I think expresses this desire to say ‘yes’ to God in all the parts of our lives in a really clear, if challenging way. 

“I am no longer my own but yours.

Put me to what you will, 

Rank me with whom you will;

Put me to doing,

Put me to suffering;

Let me be employed for you,

Or laid aside for you,

Exalted for you,

Or brought low for you;

Let me be full,

Let me be empty,

Let me have all things,

Let me have nothing;

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

You are mine and I am yours. So be it. 

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.”

May we be people whose souls say ‘yes’ to God. 

By Anna S

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References:

1  Elim Sound, We Say Yes