A Beautiful Exchange

As the boat glided across the water, I was struck by the beauty of my surroundings.  The clear, still water of the lake was set against the backdrop of rustic mountains.  Here in this place that was seemingly untouched by man, the landscape was a portrait of God’s creativity and love for beauty.  And here, God’s peace seemed to cover me.

As I sat drinking in the beauty, an even deeper thought struck me.  If I was in my college literature class I would have referred to it as a juxtaposition – the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.  Because prior to 1991 this beautiful lake did not exist.  It was in that year, that Mount Pinatubo erupted, leaving this area of the Philippines facing death and destruction.  This major force of nature wiped out homes, churches, and villages.  Under the peaceful water I was now moving over lay a former village completely destroyed.

Contemplating this, the words of Isaiah 61 began to speak to me.  God declares that He can exchange ashes for beauty.  Only God can take a place of destruction and transform it into something breathtakingly beautiful.  Romans tells us that creation proclaims God’s attributes.  And this lake was declaring to me the message of redemption.  Jesus, God’s anointed one, came to bring good news.  The good news that He has the power to redeem.  He came to give freedom to captives, joy in exchange for mourning, and strength in place of weakness.

God reminded me, that just as He had formed this lake in a place of devastation, He has the power to take the broken places of my life and create something beautiful.  And that is not only true sometimes – it is true for every person and for every situation.  In our minds, we categorize certain areas or people as beyond hope or irreparable.  But our God is a restorer.  In Jesus’ ministry, He made it clear, He did not come to help the healthy, but the sick.  Our hurt, pain, and brokenness is not the end of the story.  In fact, it is these very places God desires to work.  God wants to take what is far beyond our ability to repair and rebuild, restore, and renew.  And it is in these places that He receives the glory – because it is only God who can take our ashes and exchange them for something beautiful.

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“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting, so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.”

Isaiah 61:1-4 NASB