Thanksgiving in an Ash Heap (conclusion)
Ash heaps don’t last forever. That’s the third reason we can thank God when sitting in the ash heaps of life. You can read about reason number one here and reason number two here.
Let me say it again: ash heaps don’t last forever. They just feel like they do.
“This too shall pass” is a Persian adage describing the nature of life. Both good times and bad times are temporary, fleeting, passing. Interestingly enough, Abraham Lincoln quoted this phrase in his first inaugural address as president.
I know it doesn’t feel like it, but compared to what lies ahead, what you are experiencing now is a light, momentary affliction that is preparing you for what the Bible calls an eternal weight of glory.1
I know that sounds a lot like the teacher in the Charlie Brown shows - “wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,” - so let me break it down for you. And hang with me. I promise it will be worth it.
Notice the opposites found in this verse - light versus weight, momentary versus eternal, and affliction versus glory.
That’s God’s way of saying, “What you’re going through now ain’t nothing compared to what’s waiting on the other side.” And just to be clear, the “other side” isn’t waiting for you after you’re dead (though that’s true as well); the other side is what’s waiting for you after you emerge from the fire.
As I said in yesterday’s post, you are going to be so much stronger. Stronger from the inside out. And inner strength is more valuable than anything this world has to offer.
Once again, I find myself struggling to put into words the person I am now after having come through some brutally painful times. All I can tell you is that my heart and life is filled with “an eternal weight of glory.”
Job says it so much better. After he has emerged from the ash heap, as his story comes to an end, he says this - “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”2 Those are the words of someone whose understanding of God is not based on what he or she has been taught in Sunday School or heard from some Bible teacher or pastor. They are not based on a doctrinal understanding of God. They are rooted in an intimate acquaintance with the creator and sustainer of the universe.
To know Him, to enter into His sufferings, and to share those sufferings with Him, there’s nothing more life-changing.
And it happens in the ash heap.
That brings me to the fourth and final reason we thank God in the ash heaps of life - God is in the ash heap with us.
God promises to walk with us in the fire. He will not allow the flames to set us ablaze.3
In the early days, the pioneers on the plains of America would build bonfires at night. These bonfires kept them safe from predators and other threats. They dared not wander off from the fire but rather drew close to it because that is where they were safest.
You may not feel particularly safe right now, but let me assure you, God is there with you in the fire. Don’t wander away. Draw closer, look deeper, and there, in the flames, you will see God. And your faith will not be based on what you’ve heard but on what you have seen, what you have experienced.
Now, that’s an eternal weight of glory worth waiting for.
Blessings and strength, grace and goodness to you.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.
You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.
2 Corinthians 4:17.
Job 42:5.
Isaiah 43:2.