Beauty For Ashes

To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory.
Isaiah 61:3

Ashes...the substance left over after something has been burned. Ashes are basically useless. They are quickly gathered and disposed of until the next fire. Ashes in the Bible represent mourning, suffering, and despair. Job, clothed in sackcloth, sat in ashes and prayed. When our lives are put through the fire, many times we are left with some ashes.

In my journey to grow closer to the heart of God, I have acquired some ashes. Fears, insecurity, and despair from various life experiences are the ashes I have acquired. It is interesting for me to read this verse now. A year ago, I probably would have read it and thought, "That is great, but it doesn't happen for me." Now I fight back the tears thinking about all my heavenly Father has done in my life in the past 5 months. Since January, He has started a work of healing in me and my husband that is now spreading to my children. I believe from a broader perspective that this verse is about healing. It speaks of an inner healing, which in many cases leads to a physical healing. My family and I have experienced both in the past5 months.

I see at the core of this healing and this verse an exchange taking place. I give the Father "this" in exchange for "that". This exchange was demonstrated at the cross.

For God love the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

God gave His Son, Jesus, in exchange for us. Christ took upon himself the sins of the world in exchange for our freedom. When we trust Christ as our Saviour, we exchange the "old man" for the "new man". With the "new man", we receive the Holy Spirit, a clean heart, and the promise of eternal life.

Does our healing end there? Whether we trust Christ when we are 7 or 97, there are those "ashes". Ashes that don't magically disappear the moment we are saved. I believe our Father desires for us to give Him our ashes. He isn't going to take them. When we give them willingly, He gives us amazing things in return. It is a beautiful exchange that takes a life that once was broken and makes it whole again. It is GRACE! We don't deserve it. We could make a very long list of reasons why we don't deserve this exchange, this act of grace. Bt He has just one reason that trumps them all. That is LOVE! His love is the transforming power that gives a crown of beauty for ashes. It gives strength for fear, blessings for mourning, and festive praise for despair. His love makes us like great oaks planted ( I like the work SECURE) for His own glory!

There is a couple of songs that go to this verse that are very good. One is by Crystal Lewis and the other is by Shane & Shane. The title is "Beauty For Ashes". I am not an expert on any of this, but the Father laid this verse on my heart a week ago and has ministered to me tremendously. His work of healing continues daily in me & my family.