Isaiah 61:1-4
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted , to proclaim liberty to the captives , and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;3 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 . 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations , and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
(When you hear this passage there is no way that you will not say “AMEN”, and the truth is a lot of us just said amen today, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that)
Today, all I want to do is just talk, I want to talk and share some thoughts that I have, thoughts that have been going through my mind in the last little while.
This passage and a few other ones in the Bible, pretty much tells us that the Lord will cause a change in our lives, Isaiah 61:3 (KJV) says “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.” Message “3 To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory.”
Whenever I read or hear this verse, I get excited because it is a promise, and hey I have in the past even used this passage to preach change and upliftment. I have though, in the past little while thought about this and so many other passages that has promises in the Bible and have been asking questions, questions, questions that you may have also been asking, some of which I will share with you today.
1. Lord, if you will give beauty for ashes why is it that people that serve you with all their heart, time and resources fall sick and have sicknesses that does not seem to go away, some of them terminal, while those that do not even know you or have little or no regards for you are healthy?, IT BOTHERS ME
2. Lord, if you will give beauty for ashes why is it that your children that serve you day and night, who have all the degrees, qualifications, experience are not able to find a jobs and are not selected even when they attend interviews while those that have no regards for you are easily selected?, LORD, WHERE IS MY BEAUTY?
3. Lord, if you will give beauty for ashes why is it that people that serve you true and true and have given their lives to you and are working in your vineyard are still single, and are getting to an old age and still a husband has not surfaced, and those that are married are sometimes not blessed with children years after they are married?, LORD, WHERE IS YOUR BEAUTY?
4. Lord, if you will give beauty for ashes why is it that will your child will go to work one day and are told that they are letting them go even though there are others in that same place of work that do not have any regards for you? LORD, WHERE IS YOUR BEAUTY?
6. Lord, if you will give beauty for ashes why is it that there are those that have given up everything to serve you, but are still despised, abused, insulted, caused to be discouraged by those that do not show respect to you and your work? LORD, WHERE IS YOUR BEAUTY?
But then it occurred to me, the Lord says that He will give unto me, beauty for ashes, and I started to wonder what this means.
Then it occurred to me that ashes come from wood that is burnt not wood that is not burnt. When wood burns in the presence of oxygen, it turns to ashes and has become an entirely different mixture than it was before and the ashes cannot be simply frozen and turned back into wood, it takes on a new state, it is what is called an “irreversible reaction” in science. Then I realize that my beauty will not come until my wood has been completely burnt and until I have become ashes, because it is the ashes that will be turned into beauty, and I begin to rejoice because I know that when I am burnt I have been turned into ashes, I have entered a state of “irreversible reaction”, where the Lord will begin to do His work in me and I will not go back to where and what I was before, then I realize that His beauty for me will come, when all my wood has been burnt, at the end of all my tribulations, and the end of all my trials, after I have been burnt.
Romans 5:3-4 says “3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation workethpatience;4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:.”
James 1:2-4 says “2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith workethpatience.4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing . Message says “2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
I will encourage you to rejoice when you go through difficult situations (no matter how tough it may be) because it is only helping to bring forth your ashes that will be turned into beauty.
An example of this in the Bible is Joseph, when you read the full account of the story of Joseph and isolate just the middle, it is enough to conclude that Joseph is cursed. How can anyone go from bad to worse situation and whenever something good happened to, or was about to happen to him, some terribly bad occurs that takes him back to dung. If Joseph is from where some of are from originally, they will take him to some strange place to go make an enquiry as to who or what is causing him to always fall back to problems and never do well. He was almost scorned by His brother, harassed, thrown into a well, sold to slavery, just when things started to go well for him, he was thrown into prison for sexual harassment, while he was in prison and got connected and though things were going to happen for him, he was forgotten. I tell you, the summation of his life from being sold into slavery to him being brought to face Pharoah, was his process of being turned into an irreversible state. Hence he could say in Genesis 50:19-20 that “19 Don't be afraid. Do I act for God? 20 Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now - life for many people.” Brethren, I say to you today, God is using everything that you are going through, and every state that you are in right now to work out something exceedingly better for you.
1 Corinthians 2:7 Message “7 God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest - what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene.”
Another example of this is Jesus. His life on earth was one that stunned people, how can you imagine that a man that is supposedly like you and I, have the power to give sight to the blind, heal the legs of the lame, cast out demons, raise the dead and after all of this, was arrested, embarrassed, flogged, and crucified by mere mortals that were not as powerful as He was. It was enough to discount Him and say that everything He did was meaningless. But there was a beauty that was destined to come out of all that process, and it was something that no man could understand, hence 1 Corinthians 2:8 says “8Which none of the princes of this world knew :for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Your current state is only bringing you to an “irreversible state” where God will bring out His beauty. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says “9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
The conclusion of and answer to all this question is this, "FOR YOU TO HAVE BEAUTY, YOU MUST BE BURNT ENOUGH TO DEVELOP ASHES”
God Bless You.
