Eating Ashes

In Isaiah 44:20, we read:

“He feeds on ashes;

A deceived heart has turned him aside;

And he cannot deliver his soul,

Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

The deceived heart is a word picture of iniquity. It’s on the inside, but it steers what happens on the outside. It’s like the steering wheel of your car. Where is the steering wheel? On the inside. Where are the wheels? On the outside.

And who eats ashes? Have you heard of Pica? It’s a craving to eat things that are not edible, like dirt or chalk. A person with pica can be perfectly normal in every other way, yet be driven to eat pieces of foam rubber. Some folks even crave cigarette ashes.

That’s us. That’s all of us. Isaiah 44:20 is still true today. We feed on ashes, the spiritual ashes of idolatry.