For twelve years of my life, God blessed me with the ability and opportunity to participate in the world’s best sport: track & field. He gave me (by way of my parents) decent speed, somewhat award-winning, and championship caliber jumping ability. My best and favorite event by far was the long jump. To most of yall, long jump is nothing more than run down the track and jump. Let me assure you it is much more than that. There are three basic portions to the long jump: runway, air, and the landing. And within those portions you’ve got to set marks, your first step must hit in the same place everytime, your legs have to be right, your arms have to be right, your mind, your eyes have to be right, or else you’ll foul, you’ll fail, you won’t go very far. Through the miracles of modern technology, I was able, when I was at the Naval Academy, to have my jumps recorded from start to finish then go up to my coach’s office and watch them with him and we could pick them apart and analyze what I did well, and what I could improve upon. I made pretty standard mistakes in long jump when I first started: I looked down at the board at times. I slowed down through the take off. But the more mature I got, and the more seasons I did it, I picked it up and those bad habits went away. But there was one thing I’ll never forget Coach telling me.
In the landing phase, you have to understand that they measure from the farthest point back. This means that no matter where you’re feet go, if your rear end is behind that, they measure from the behind. I was having issues with my hands. They were the farthest points back on my body and that was costing me critical feet and inches. Coach then told me, you’re problem is you’re not extending your hands. If you were to extend your hands out in front of you, they wouldn’t land behind your feet-actually nothing would because momentum would make your body follow your hands and carry you through your landing. Such is the lesson I wish to teach yall today!
Some of yall been wondering why you aren’t getting as far you thought you should! Some of yall rack your brains sayin I pray and fast, I give my tithes and offering, I don’t cuss, drink, or smoke! Why am I not getting as far as I folk that do those things? I’m negged out and I can’t understand why God has forsaken me! Let me suggest to you that you need to extend your hands! Extend your hands and be carried through your issues! Extend your hands and be carried through your financial difficulty! Extend your hands and be carried through your messed up relationship! Extend your hands and be carried through your unemployment! Extend your hands! Yadah—extend your hands!
Yadah is a Hebrew verb with a root YAD meaning "the extended hand, to throw out the hand"; therefore, "to worship with extended hand." The antonym is to bemoan by wringing of the hands. The second part of this is AH which has reference to Jehovah. Together they are rendered Hands to God.
The first time this word appears in Scripture is in Genesis 29:35. Jacob is married to Leah and Rachel. He apparently shows favoritism to Rachel. We see this prevalent in homes where one weak member can cause a great deal of tension, disturbance, pain, and hurt. Jacob’s home was filled with tension because Jacob had been weak, spiritually weak. He lacked courage enough to stand up to Laban and refuse to marry Leah. He did not love Leah; he loved Rachel. And he had made this perfectly clear from the start. Instead of rebuking Laban and insisting on the right thing he gave into worldliness, the sin of bigamy, and as a result he brought undue tension between Rachel and Leah.
Not to spend too much time on this but when you get with folk for the wrong reason, it causes tension! Everybody has a purpose and everybody has a personality. But the Bible says do not be unequally yoked! The only way to make sure you’re evenly yoked is by getting with who God puts you with! When you start cahootin and making plans and leaning unto your own understanding that’s when you bring tension! That’s when you bust up happy homes! That’s when you cause sibling rivalry! That’s when you stir up anger and possibly spur homicide! Don’t put yourself in that situation! You might be single now but just wait! I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken…
Yes when Jacob finally realizes what he’s done he tries to fix it: too little, too late. But God saw the pain and hurt that Leah was suffering. He cared for her. God overruled Jacob’s favoritism! On the basis of what now happened, Leah she turned to the Lord for help, and she spent much time in prayer asking God to help her through the pain and suffering. And God answered her prayer!
Reason number one to yadah: because God feels your pain! He knows your suffering! He knows your weakness! He knows all about your struggle and not only that but he cares! Does anybody know God overrules favoritism! He overrules mistreatment! He overrules abandonment! He overrules prejudice! If we would just turn to him in the midst of our suffering, he would hear us and answer our prayers!
In verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. Jacob ignored Leah but God gave her children. Reason number two to yadah: when man neglects to give you something, God will give it to you! The doctors told Sarah there’s nothing they could do to help her conceive but God said BAM, there’s Isaac! The Israelites running from Pharaoh didn’t have man to build them a temporary bridge over the Red Sea so God gave them a path through it! The Ammonites said you can’t come through here but God said go and inherit your land! The King threw the Hebrew boys in the furnace without protection from the heat but God lifted a standard of divine protection! Somebody in here oughta yadah because when man wouldn’t give you that loan, God gave it to you! Because when the doctor said I can’t heal you, God gave you healing! When the ladies pass me on the street and don’t turn an eye to me, never bother to smile at me, ignore me when I say “hi how you durrin?” God said I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I sent my son to die for you!
Not only does God bless you with everything man does not, he gives you more than you originally asked for! All you ask for is a job, God gives you a career with pension and benefits! All you ask for is a room, God gives you a mansion! All you ask for is a car, God gives you a lot! All you ask for is a sip, God gives you rivers of living water! My parents had problems conceiving at first and the doctor said my momma couldn’t have children at all! Well, you see me here before you but I’m the last of FOUR! I’ll tell you I have two sisters and a brother! YADAH! God is good! All Leah said (just like Bertha) was I want a child, A child, one child, uno! But God gave her four!
She bore Reuben, which means “See, a son.” This is where we first see Leah yadah. Notice, she named the child, not Jacob, and not even an angel of the Lord. Angels of the Lord go throughout the Bible telling folk “thou shalt call him…” but Leah named the child herself. She called him Reuben saying “I want you Jacob and you Rachel, and everybody else for that matter to see what the Lord has done! Look at what happens when you’re faithful to him! Look at what happens when you pray to him! Look at what happens when you ask him!” Yes, Leah knew that this was the Lord’s doing and it was marvelous in her eyes! She named him Reuben because he was the extension of her hands! Everybody who saw or knew about that baby knew God gave him to her and they would join in on her praise! I hope you catch this: Reason number three to yadah is to show off God’s works! Cause when I keep what he’s done to myself, nobody else sees it! But God wants to be glorified and he wants to be glorified in public! So I need to extend my hands! When I extend my hands you can see them! You can see that I got em! You can see that I can move em! You can see the rings on em! You can see that I can use them to grab! I grabbed myself an education! I grabbed the hand of my loved ones! I grab the keys to my house and car! I grab a fork and eat with it! I extend my hands to show God off! Jesus tells us to Yadah later in Matthew 5:14-16 when he says “Let your light so shine…”
Leah named her second son Simeon she says because the Lord heard that she was hated. So she took this baby and extended her arms (yadah) so folk could see that God hears my prayers! I’ve got to teach a little about hearing!
It starts with sound being funneled by the outer ear into the ear canal where it vibrates the eardrum. The ear drum vibrations trigger actions in the inner ear, which is composed of three bones and you know God loves to work with bones! The first bone ear specialists from way back when named them the hammer, anvil, and stirrup according to their shapes. The ear drum’s vibrations first cause reaction from the hammer. You know that a hammer’s purpose is to make something go lower, be it a nail submerging into wood, a raised dent in metal, etc. Leah said “you heard that I was hated but now with Simeon, the hatred is going to go down!” Anybody know when he hears your prayer he makes stuff go down! He heard my prayer and my pain went down! He heard my prayer and the swelling went down! He heard my prayer and the bills went down! He heard my prayer and the workload went down! The hammer strikes up against the anvil, a massive block of steel or stone that serves as the support for hammering or shaping hot metals. Leah said “I’m callin him Simeon because after God takes down my problems, he provides a support on which I can shape my life! Yes, the stone he gave me as a cornerstone is the stone that the builders rejected! On Christ the solid rock I stand! The last bone is the stirrup. Leah said “his name is Simeon because God hammers away hatred, gives me support, and now he keeps my feet lest I fall! You heard I was hated but OH Lord! I need you by my side! Oh Lord, I need you to be my guide! I need your saving grace to run this Christian race! Guide my feet! Hold my hand! Guide my feet, hold my trembling hand! That’s what’s meant by God hearing my prayers and that’s a good reason to yadah!
Now, I’ve got to spend some time talking about Levi. Leah felt that her husband Jacob, after three children, would now feel more attached to her. After all, third time is a charm! So she named him Levi which means attached. But see, Leah was already devoted to God! She was already attached to God! So on the back end, she really named the child Levi because of her attachment to God! I wonder if anybody in here can say they’re attached to God! If you call yourself attached to God you oughta yadah! If you’re really wrapped up, tied up, tangled up in Jesus, you oughta yadah! If he walks with you everywhere you go you oughta yadah!
The fourth and final child of Leah, the last instance of yadah, is Judah. By this point, she had gotten Jacob’s attention. Jacob had begun to love her more than ever. More importantly, by this point Leah had learned not to focus on her husband, but on the Lord! She was through trying to win Jacob’s love by bearing children; rather, she was praising God for giving her children. The focus was no longer on her problem, but upon the Lord! Before she had fear but now she realizes that God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind! I’m willing to bet it’s plenty of sisters out there who can yadah because God gave you a sound mind!
God gave you a sound mind so you know now not to be stressed over negroes! You know not to be stressed over baby daddies that won’t do right! You know not to get bent out of shape behind brothas that don’t pay you no attention! You know not to get negged out behind him leaving you because you realize that LONG AS I GOT KING JESUS…! Long as I got my Levi—my attachment! Long as I got my Simeon—my hearing! Long as I got my Reuben—my vision from God made manifest, I can now extend Judah—my praise!
When we get beyond our circumstances, beyond ourselves, reaching hands to the Father with the attitude of love, trust and awe, then we are giving yadah to the Lord! Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with His Holy Word. His Word reveals that He sees our circumstances and desires to show Himself strong on our behalf. That He is watching and ready to perform His Word! We also know He hears our prayers when we pray according to His will. His Word is His will. If we truly believe He sees and hears we will have an expectation of victory. This expectation will cause us to get beyond our circumstances and beyond ourselves raising hands to the Father with an attitude of love proclaiming as Leah "Now I will YADAH!”
