Your remembrances are like unto ashes; your bodies to bodies of clay. Job 13:12
I was always amazed at how much ash built up in the old wood furnace in the house where I grew up. Each morning, as I would tend to the fire, I would pull the live coals to the front of the firebox, and then fill the firebox with wood. Gradually, the ashes would build up and I would have to shovel them out into a bucket. It seemed to me I made far too many trips to the dump to get rid of those ashes. I saw no use for them, and often wished there were no such thing as ashes. Our text today speaks ill of ashes, as well. Ashes have no place in the hearts of God’s people.
What are ashes? Ashes are just a cold reminder of a fire that has gone out. In the tabernacle or the temple in the Old Testament, the ashes from the offerings to the Lord were to be carried outside and disposed of. On the alter was to be a live fire and a sacrifice that was burning. As God’s people assemble in our age, we don’t have a physical alter or a physical fire burning, but our remembrances are not to be cold and formal and devoid of emotion. God is looking for the fire of devotion and appreciation; He is looking for hearts that have been lifted in loving response to His great love. How can we tell if our remembrances are like unto ashes?
Ashes are just a reminder of a fire that has gone out. If our remembrances are like unto ashes, it will be because fire has gone out and has been replaced with something else. Sometimes, the procedure of our remembrance meetings becomes more important than what arises from hearts and lips. It becomes overly important to have the right mix of prayer and hymns, maybe, or it becomes a struggle to maintain a flow of the right brothers taking part in the worship. Ashes also occur when the prayers become too much like the prayers of the previous week, or the previous month, or the previous year. Ashes occur when the prayers of some become so long that others are not given opportunity to participate. Ashes occur when prayers become filled with little expressions that once held great meaning but are now just cliches because of overuse. Ashes occur when the sisters come as unprepared as the brothers who remain silent. Ashes occur when the hymns that are sung are personal favourites and not prayerful exercise. As ashes occur, our remembrances become cold and meaningless.
Have you ever taken ashes to the remembrances of the Lord? Make sure you always take a heart filled with true devotion, and the ashes will disappear. -Jim MacIntosh