“…to give them beauty for ashes.” -Isaiah 61:3
It wasn’t that long ago that I went through such painful devastation that about all I had left was a pile of ashes.
Think about what ashes are…
Ashes are what’s left after there’s NOTHING left.
Ashes are beyond broken. When you have ashes there’s no such thing as collecting the pieces and putting things back together again. There are no fragments when you have ashes- there’s literally nothing left. A pile of ashes shows that there used to be something there, but it’s so destroyed you can’t make out what it was anymore.
The promise God is making here is that if you will bring Him that pile of ashes, He will take them out of your hands and give you something beautiful back.
When you go to gather up your ashes, it’s not easy, they just fall apart between your fingers. You realize that what you’re giving God has been so destroyed that you can’t even give Him all the ashes without them turning to dust in your hands!
It’s not going to make sense, and it’s not going to seem possible, but bring Him your ashes anyway. His promise is not just to make things BETTER but to give you something BEAUTIFUL.
God gives beauty for ashes.