Beauty for Ashes

It was early Sabbath morning. I had just woken up and was praying. It was still dark but I really felt I needed to get up up and be very intentional about spending time with God. I found a quiet place outside and continued to pray but it was difficult to concentrate. It was about 30 minutes later I felt I could not stay there. I really felt called to the mountain but, quite honestly, I did not want to go. I wanted quiet time. But I had no peace so I decided to hike up the mountain...and I continued to pray. All the way up I could smell smoke. I rounded a corner to see a wall of flames licking up the pine needles and small bushes on the mountainside. It wasn't so much the charred and smouldering terrain that surprised me as much as why I was standing there. I had seen the distant flames the night before, so I knew something would be different. Since the fire was no threat to me, I continued walking. In every direction I looked, the ground around me was covered in ashes.  The longer I walk, the more I realize what the fire has done. All of my favorite places on the mountain have been through the flames. I continue on to where I love to lie on the cushion of pine needles, gaze at the passing clouds, and listen to the whispering breeze...now the ground is covered in ashes. I find myself almost complaining, "God, how could you allow all this beauty to be destroyed? And besides, what encouragement could you possibly have for me in seeing all of this...I'm seeing enough ashes in my life right now."

I tried to think of every possible verse in the Bible that talked about ashes, to see what God might be trying to show me. Sure enough, I found that ashes are generally a pretty hopeless thing. Ashes were the residue from the sacrifices of Israel which were cast aside beside the altar (Lev. 1:16). Later, a priest would change from his priestly garments to bring the ashes to their designated place outside the camp (Lev. 6:11).  Throughout the Bible, ashes are used as a symbol of humiliation, shame, grief, and mourning. Both Abraham and Job compared their lamentable human condition to ashes. Malachi prophesied that the wicked will be reduced to ashes (Malachi 4:3).

Hmmm...a pretty grim picture. The only verse that seemed to hint at hope was Isaiah 61:3 

"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..."

I could see the ashes quite well, but I was still struggling. What purpose could God be fulfilling through the ashes in our lives? How it possibly be something beautiful?

It didn't happen all that day but I slowly began to realize that our ashes: our sinfulness and unworthiness, our insignificance and helplessness, all give God the opportunity to do what He does best...create from nothing.

Romans 4:17 "...In the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did."

When we come to the end of human resources and possibilities, that's when God's unfailing power shines through, because we see our weaknesses and finally become willing to call on Help beyond ourselves. In our lives, some things will be destroyed, plans will fail, hopes and dreams will be disappointed. 

Earthly loss, grief, afflictions, trials, are not the end of hope. They cannot even be compared to the beauty that God will bring out of them, the day when we see the recorded "heavenly edition" of our earthly journey.

But why was it that Abraham was able to experience the power of God?

"Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." (Romans 4:18-21)

In summary, he was so convinced of God's power that not even impossibility itself would shake his faith. The same God who worked with Abraham for 100 hundred years to develop such a faith is still willing to do the same for me! Just as now, three weeks later, I walk the same charred mountainside, I see that the rain is washing away the ashes and causing plants to spring up everywhere, He can bring beauty out of my ashes.

How Do They Know?

It is still pitch black. The darkness of the lonely streets is pierced only by a few sparse street lights. People in this part of Honduras are generally early risers, but this morning I feel like I won the contest... Except for the roosters! I listened to a few of them shatter the early morning silence with their shrill  crowing. Then it hits me: How do they know that morning is coming? There is no sign of dawn. The skies are still as dark as midnight... Not even the stars are visible. Don't they ever fear of making fools of themselves? What if morning didn't come? (If there is a scientific explanation for this I am unaware of it.)

They know...because morning never fails! Every night ends in a morning! God created these animals to know even at 4:30 am that soon the light will break forth into day. I am thankful today to serve a God who is far more faithful and consistent then the most reliable things we know.

How is that meaningful to me today? If a rooster can confidently crow in the dark, knowing that morning will come, how much more can I, a child of God, declare the praises of God even when I am surrounded by darkness? God leads us through darkness as well as through light, and I should not allow the darkness to dim my faith that the light WILL break through!

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning--Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption."
-Psalm 130:5-7 NKJV