Today I was cleaning out our
fireplace as the thirty-below Minnesota blizzard raged outside hoping to
relieve our freezing house from its case of an illusionary indoor frost. As I
pushed the ashes down the chute, a very familiar song started echoing eerily in
my mind, like a dream I couldn’t quite grasp. I found myself humming the tune,
and pretty soon I was singing the words as my brother played the music of a
different song in the background.
Beauty for ashes… A garment of Praise, for my heaviness
This Shane & Shane song is an
extremely powerful rendition of a beautiful verse we find in Isaiah 61. And two
weeks fromlaunch, I find myself drawn desperately to the promises of this
passage. To provide a little history, Isaiah was a prophet of Israel during the
expansion of the Assyrian empire (745-727 BC). Most scholars break down his
message into two sections: the book of judgment and the book of comfort. The
first rebukes Israel (and nearly everyone else) and warns against coming
judgment. Promises are often mingled throughout, but the main message is one
of
repentance.
The second section, the book of
comfort, speaks of God’s redemption. Hope is given to the faithful that God
will save those who seek Him. This is speaking firstly of the fall of Babylon
and the physical enemies of the Israelites. It refers also to the second coming
of Christ, where the “suffering servant” (as used throughout Isaiah, chapters
52 and 53 specifically who we now know is Jesus Christ) accomplishes redemption
by self-sacrifice and affliction. It speaks of the hope of salvation and the
Day of the Lord.
You would not be surprised to
note that Jesus reads this very passage from Isaiah 61 (verses one and two) and
proclaims the person of whom this passage speaks of is He. “The Spirit of
the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to
proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to
comfort all who mourn…”
Which brings us to the passage
that brought me here today.
“… and provide for those who
grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil
of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair…”
(Isaiah 61:3)
Jesus proclaims in Luke 4:16-21
(also found in Matthew 11:5) that this man of restoration is indeed Himself. If
by believing that Jesus is everything He said to be, I must look at Isaiah 61
in a different light. The hope that is given the Israelites in this passage,
the hope of redemption from exile, is one I can also cling to in Christ Jesus.
He is the “Anointed One” mentioned in Isaiah. This communicates that the promises
of Isaiah are an assurance to me as well because of Christ. I sit here in
the hope that Jesus Christ provides the things He claims to in Isaiah 61. I
cling to the words like a precious secret and hold fast to them.
I have struggled these past few
weeks in posting a new blog since I found myself sitting in the thoughts of the
previous entry. It has been extremely difficult letting go and saying goodbye.
There are many goodbyes yet to be said, and I know it will be increasingly
painful, but the hope of this passage leaves me catching a glimpse of what is
to come.
Allow me to repeat the authority of
the promises imparted in Isaiah 61:3:
“provide those who grieve in
Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair…”
God is going to take the grieving
I am experiencing and turn it to joy. He will turn my mourning into praise!
Something that seems impossible for any of us who experience any sort of grief
would scoff at the thought of praise springing from despair, but this is the
upside-down way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only will the LORD change
all these things around for us, but also following this promise is an extremely
descriptive section of those whom the LORD has rescued and comforted. Please
look at this with me, it’s so powerful. This is who they are. This is what God
does with them.
“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a
planting of the LORD for the display of His spendor. They will rebuild the
ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the
ruined cities that have been devastated for generations…. And you will be
called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God…. they will
inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
“For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness
I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them…. All who see
them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”” (Isaiah 61:4,
6-9 (portions))
I cannot even begin to imagine
how commanding this promise is. “They will restore the places long devastated…
they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations…”
does this not feel like a prophecy over the World Race? I see the faces of my squad
mates when I read this passage. I hear their voices. I feel their passion. I
smell the sweat and tears that flow from toiling over the work of the Lord. I
taste the goodness of the Lord proclaimed on their lips and suddenly I find
myself in awe and rejoicing. Suddenly I have found beauty for these ashes.
I really believe that God will
take the tears I have shed and no doubt will continue to shed over leaving
friends and family behind, and turn them into streams of living water. I
believe God does this. He is in the process of redeeming all of creation and my
goodbyes are no different. He will redeem even them. So I find myself returning in hope to the joy and excitement of the pending months. I once again open my hands what God is calling me to and trust in His redeeming work. A work that turns everything in the world upside down and makes no earthly sense. Perhaps that’s what’s so appealing about the Gospel. Jesus takes despair and turns it into praise. He takes mud and turns it into sight for a blind man (John 9).
I also believe the same is true
for you in whatever situation you find yourself in. These words were not
written only for World Racers, but for all who surrender to the love of Christ.
And if you know the Savior, I pray you will seek the ways in which He is going
to redeem the pain in your life. How is He turning your ashes to beauty?
Trading your heaviness for a garment of praise? I believe if you ask God to
reveal His goodness to you and seek the ways He is “making all things new” (Rev
21:5), you will find that there are roses growing in your bag of Kingsford.
So I’m just going to let God’s
Word speak in way of benediction my prayer over my own heart and all of yours:
“I delight greatly in the
LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of
salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his
head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the
soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the
Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all
nations.” (Isaiah 61:10-11)
