Beauty for Ashes
Have you ever heard the phrase "beauty for ashes"?
Sometimes we can hear a phrase so often that it loses some of its depth.
Most people who use that phrase focus on the "beauty" of it. Who doesn't want beauty in their lives? Whether it's physical beauty, beautiful material things, beauty in nature, or a million other things, humanity searches for ways to make life better and more beautiful.
But the part that stuck with me was "ashes".
Fire is meant to consume, to destroy. But we know, thanks to science, that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. When a fire has burned out, and whatever was burning has been completely consumed, ashes are all that's left. They are the only indication that it ever existed. When the priests would burn offerings there would be ashes left behind on the altar, which we can see in 1 Kings and Leviticus.
Sackcloth and ashes had plenty of emotional and spiritual applications in the Bible. Daniel wore them when he was fasting and seeking God. They were worn in mourning in Jeremiah.
Ashes are what's left behind after destruction. A fire. The fires of life. A burnt offering. We mourn over what's lost. We repent from sin, which destroys us. We seek God because we are lost.
He gives us beauty for our ashes. We have to make that exchange. We have to let go and wait in faith for what He wants to give us.
Too often, I hold onto the pain and fear of regrets, of what I can't control, of uncertainty, of what's been lost or taken. I hold onto those ashes because they're all I can see of what's left. The anxiety of the what-if's cloud my mind. How do I let go? What next? How do I move forward?
Nothing is truly destroyed. There is a remnant that God sees beauty and hope in. He gives us beauty in exchange for those ashes. He gives joy in exchange for mourning. He takes the spirit of heaviness off of us and gives us garments of praise.
To get receive the blessings and beauty of God, we have to be willing to lay down our ashes, our mourning, and our sorrow. He promises that He will take them from us and give us something beautiful in return. We just have to be able to let go.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Here's a list of the verses I focused on
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