Beauty For Ashes

-March 15, 202-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

“To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they shall be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

(Isaiah 61:3).

Isaiah 61 speaks of how blessed we are to be saved and to live new lives in the Lord. Only the Lord can change our lives. He takes away the old, and gives us all things new. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We have a new heart, a new nature, and new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today’s verse is so beautiful and shows how God turns everything around in our lives. In the Bible, ashes were used along with sackcloth in indicate extreme debasement, mourning, and or repentance. A person would wear sackcloth, a rough material made of black goat’s hair, which was very uncomfortable to wear; and sprinkle ashes on their head or clothing. God has given us beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning. Only the Lord can do this. Once we were in sin, lost and hopeless, God changed our lives for the good, now we live joyful lives of victory, and do the things that we should.

Only the Lord change us from sinners to saints and make us beautiful in His sight. The hymn writer Gloria Gather wrote, “Something beautiful, something good; all my confusion He understood; all I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life.” This change from ashes to beauty reminds me of the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The caterpillar is unattractive and slow, but the butterfly is beautiful and soars through the air. We too were once useless to God and unworthy, but now we are sons of God. He considers us worthy and beautiful.

Notice the other ways the Lord changes us: He gives us the garment of praise in place of the spirit of heaviness. Sin burdened our lives and Jesus gave us rest so that we can praise Him. He also made us like trees of righteousness planted in His garden so that He is glorified. Yes, all the glory goes to Him both now and forever.

When we are feeling a little down or discouraged, let us remember how God saved us and changed our lives. We still face adversity, hardship, pain, and sorrow, but now we have the Lord in our lives. He is with us always. Solomon wrote, “He has made everything beautiful in its time, Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God did from the beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Have a blessed and beautiful day thanking God for giving us beauty for ashes. Stay safe and healthy.

In His joy,

Dean