Sitting in sackcloth and ashes…
My heart cries out to thee…
Take the ashes Lord and return to me…
All that has been stolen, let repentance rise to thee…
Prostrate and undone, waiting to see…
All of your glory Lord, I cry bitterly…
Let the winds blow the ashes of my sins into the sea…
Take the ashes Lord, for I am guilty…
Your blood flows to set me free…
Take the ashes Lord, take all of me…
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust
Jesus, it is in you I trust…
Take the ashes of a broken, contrite heart
Restore my soul, shine your light into the dark,
Places of regret and unbearable sorrow…
Where, I let you down,
I wore unbelief as a tarnished crown
Arise, shine my little one, your ashes are replaced
With beauty and forgiveness
Come and sip the new wine, Come to me and taste…
To see that it is good, your old life erased…
No more tears, no more sorrow
Rising on the morrow, is joy, unspeakable joy…
Death has no more hold on you
There will never be a sting…
I will take the ashes child and throw them to the wind…
Into the furnace of my great love I will send…as a sweet-smelling savor,
To the Father on His throne…
He will answer, my child, welcome home…
~Marla Shaw O’Neill September 30, 2020
Isaiah 61:3 The Passion Translation
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Isaiah 61:3 Or “beauty for ashes” or “a garland (of flowers) or headdress.” There is an interesting wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word for “beauty” is phe’er, and the word for “ashes” is epher—simply the moving of one letter. God has the power to change and move things around in our lives to make them into something beautiful. See Rom. 8:28.
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Isaiah 61:3 Or “joy, gladness.” See Heb.1:9.
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Isaiah 61:3 Or “(robes of) mourning.”
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Isaiah 61:3 Or “a splendor-garment.”
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Isaiah 61:3 Or “the spirit of failure.” The Hebrew word for “heaviness” (keheh) comes from a root word for “dark, dim, obscure, colorless, gloom.”
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Isaiah 61:3 The oak, a hardwood tree, was used to make yokes for oxen and symbolizes strength, might (or mighty men), stability, conviction, uprightness, resoluteness. This could be the Quer-cus calliprinos, also known as the Palestine oak. There is a Palestine oak not far from Hebron that has been estimated to be 850 years old. “Oaks of Righteousness” points to a godly, spiritually mature people who will know the righteousness of God and walk in it. Jesus, the Tree of Life, multiplies himself in us so we become trees of righteousness. A Tree became a forest.
