Beauty for Ashes... The Who Over the Why

Isaiah 61:3 tells us the Jesus came to give “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” This is a huge promise that we see here in Isaiah 61, and we see fingerprints of this same theme throughout the rest of the Bible. When I think of beauty for ashes, I think of hope, of comfort, of redemption. It tells me that out of everything that happens in my life, nothing will be wasted. God’s bottom line promise to me, to us, is found within the very heart of this verse. It is nice when life wraps up nicely, but when it doesn’t- this promise of beauty for ashes is a promise to anchor ourselves into.

Often, during adversity, the first question we tend to ask is WHY? It makes sense that we do. It is buried within our human nature to avoid danger, and understanding why danger arrived could lead to preventing it in the future. But, not all hardship can be explained. Not all suffering has a clear reason on this side of heaven. We can ask WHY, but if we get stuck on the WHY, then we might miss out on the other important answers that He will reveal, and that would be to our own detriment. I believe He is more interested in revealing the WHO, the WHAT, and the HOW of hardship more so than the WHY.

The WHO is the promise of His presence, of WHO He will be for us, even in the midst of the fires of affliction that we face. He is first and foremost, the Creator. Even in midst of fire and destruction, He is still the Creator. Creating is His very essence. He cannot not create. Like a tent of reprieve placed in the fiery temperatures of Death Valley, He promises His presence to meet us in the fire and to reveal His love, peace, and beauty to us, despite the adversity.

The WHAT is His purpose, what He will do. Isaiah 61:1-2 tells us He came to - “preach good tidings… to heal the brokenhearted… to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those bound… to comfort and console all who mourn.” He will continue to fulfill this purpose toward us because He is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3).

The HOW is His plan. Romans 8:28 says that ‘all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.’ He’s got a plan for a great exchange, three great exchanges actually. We bring something to Him at the table of communion, and He offers us an exchange. If we hand Him the ashes of our affliction, He will hand us beauty. If we hand Him our mourning, He will give us the oil of joy. If we hand Him our spirit of heaviness, He hands us a garment of praise. We will indeed be thrown into fiery furnaces in life, but take hope, He will meet us there, becoming ‘the fourth man in the fire’ (Daniel 3:25), empowering us to walk out loosed though we were thrown in bound.

When life refuses to answer our WHY’s, and all we have left are handfuls of ashes, may we be people who shift our gaze. Instead of getting stuck on ‘why is this happening to me,’ let’s shift from the WHY to the WHO. Let’s ask Him to reveal WHO He will be to us in the midst of this fiery trial. Focusing on the WHO question helps us to hand over our mourning and heaviness, receiving His joy and praise in exchange. It is only then that the ultimate WHY of our lives can be fulfilled: “that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3). When the fires of life burn things to ashes and refuse to tell us WHY, I pray that God’s gift of grace will empower us to shift our gaze from the WHY to the WHO, enabling us to know the beauty of His presence, the fragrant oil of His joy, and the enveloping garment of His praise.