Ash Moments

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-3; Daniel 9:3

Theme: Ash Moments

Proposition: 1. There is a Time and Place for Ashes 2. God can Take Our Ashes and Transform into Beauty

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helen’s erupted. For nine straight hours over 540 million tons of ash fell over a 22,000 square mile area. That is a lot of ashes on a lot of ground.

For the next two weeks scientists found pieces of ash from Mt. Saint Helen’s all over the world. The ash that started from Mt. Saint Helen’s was found in the Artic, Antarctica, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Many of us here this morning saw video footage of the explosion that happened on Mt. Saint Helen’s that day. There were news reports about it for weeks.

+We saw pictures of the skies of Spokane, Washington some 350 miles away which were darkened for an entire day.

+We heard the story of how 57 people lost their lives along with thousands of wild animals and fish.

+We heard about thousands of people who were adversely impacted by the ashes affecting their vision and lungs for days, weeks and months.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see that much ash in the immediate sky. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have to breath with all that ash falling around you.

However, I can safely say that all of us have seen different kinds of ashes. We have seen the ashes that come from burning leaves, wood or coal. We have seen the ashes that come from a pipe or a cigarette. Some of us have even seen the ashes that have come from a pet or loved one.

Our passage this morning deals with the subject of ashes. It is what I would like for us to reflect on this morning.

I. There is a time when we all will have ashes in our lives.

Often when we think of ashes we think of a fire or the loss of someone or something.

In the Bible we find all kinds of people who dealt with ashes ranging from Abraham to Job to Esther to Daniel and others.

There were those who experienced such depths of sorrow that they didn’t know anything else to do but to cover their heads with ashes or sit in a pile of ashes.

+This is where we find Job in Job chapter two.

He had lost his children – seven sons and three daughters.

He had lost most of his servants and workhands.

He had lost all his livestock – his sheep, his oxen, his camels and his donkeys.

He had lost his health – he was covered with running ulcers from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

All he knew to do was to cover himself with ashes and sit in a pile of ashes. His whole world had been reduced to a pile of ashes.

+This is where we find David’s daughter Tamar in 2 Samuel chapter thirteen.

She had tried to take care of her half-brother Ammon who said that he was sick and had requested that she be his private nurse.

However, as you read the story it was all a lie. What really was happening was Ammon had fallen romantically for his sister and wanted her to sleep with him.

He was trying to find a way to get her alone. When he finally accomplished that task, he demanded that she sleep with him.

Tamar rejected his advances telling Ammon that such a thing should not happen in Israel. She told him that she wouldn’t sleep with him. In a fit of rage and rejection Ammon attacked Tamar. He molested her and then had his servant cast her aside like one would cast aside a discarded piece of trash.

Tamar then tears her multi-colored robe and covers herself in ashes. Her perfect life was over. In that day and time no one would accept her as their wife.

Thankfully, her full brother Absolom found her. He comforts her and allows her to come and live in his house where she stayed the rest of her life unmarried.

+This is where we find the Prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter nine.

Daniel is an old man. He has lived most of his life as an exile in the land of Babylon. His heart cries out to be able to return to his homeland of Israel. He begins to understand that he will never be able to go home. But he must do something to help those around him be able to return.

The only thing he knows to do is to become Israel’s intercessor. He states that he will set his face towards God, he will intercede for Israel, he will wear sack cloth and sit in pile of ashes in humility to see if God will forgive the people of their sins and allow them to go back to the Promise Land.