Beauty for Ashes (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Beauty and ashes are two different things. While people may not be very good in defining words, the dictionary usually tries to provide some description to understand them. For ashes, the dictionary says it is “the powdery residue left after the burning of a substance.” This means that ashes are almost completely worthless. In most cases, the wind blows them away or the rain falls and sweeps them away. Beauty, on the other hand, is described as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.” There is no doubting the fact that a position of beauty is better than ashes and that people prefer the former than the latter
In an individual’s life, a position of ashes is a state of weakness, defeat and lack of any apparent hope. In Exodus chapter 2, Moses was born a victim and had no hopes. Though his mother saw him as a beautiful child, he was in fact as good as ashes because he was on the death row from the minute he was born. He was in this position for three months when his mother knew that it was time for him to be killed, buried and forgotten forever, so she placed him in a basket and put it beside the river and (painfully) expected to be given the report of how he died. Then God Almighty changed the game and a hopeless child moved from death row to honor roll within few minutes. From that time on, he was decorated with beauty, moving from prince to national leader and serving as God’s mouthpiece until his death.
The hands of ordinary human beings are not able to convert ashes to beauty. We have seen various advances in medical technology but medical surgery is not the way to move people from the position of ashes to that of beauty. In 1 Chronicles chapter 4 verses 9 and 10, the Bible speaks of one man who was born a victim. His mother was part of his problems by naming him Jabez (sorrow). Friends, be careful the names you give to your children because you may be unknowingly creating lifelong battles for them. Cut a long story short, Jabez woke up one day and decided he would not be a victim anymore. He called on the God of Israel, saying: “oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” The Bible concluded by saying that “God granted him that which he requested.” From that time on he was beautified by God and became honored.
Our God is the specialist in giving people beauty instead of ashes. You may have been so sorrowful and pitiful for yourself for the way you were born. Perhaps you do not have the opportunities that others have and you have been wondering why your own is like that. You may even have contemplated suicide because that is one of the devil’s weapons on people who feel sorry for themselves. I believe that God engineered this message to talk to you because the thought of this topic has been on my mind even before I woke up this morning. I suggest that you cry to your God as Jabez did and as soon as you do that to stop sorrowing. Our God is a professional and can put a thought in your mind that will change your entire life within a short period. God’s hands are not short; remember that He lives on the inside of you? And, to those who have given up hope and accepted their current situations as final, why would you settle for ashes when you can have beauty? Remember that Abraham, even when it was apparent that there was no more hope of a child, believed in hope and God not only gave him a child but made him the father of nations? Yes, His name still hasn’t changed: He is Jehovah Jireh –our Provider. You can wake up tomorrow and experience a splendid change and I pray that this is your portion this season in Jesus’ name. Have a wonderful week and may God bless you all!
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