Monday Meditation: Beauty For Ashes

 

 

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach
good news to the poor.  He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners."
(Isaiah 61:1)

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy/Pinterest

 

 

 I sing the love of God, my Father,

Whose Spirit abides within,

Who changes all my grief to gladness,

And pardons me all my sin.

Though clouds may lower, dark and dreary,

Yet He has promised to be near;

He gives me sunshine for my shadow,

And "beauty for ashes" here. 

He gives me joy in place of sorrow;

He gives me love that casts out fear;

He gives me sunshine for my shadow

And "beauty for ashes" here. 

I sing the love of God, my Savior,

Who suffered upon the tree,

That, in the secret of His presence,

My bondage might freedom be.

He comes "to bind the brokenhearted",

He comes the fainting soul to cheer;

He gives me "oil of joy" for mourning,

And "beauty for ashes" here. 

I sing the beauty of the Gospel 

That scatters, not thorns, but flowers,

That bids me scatter smiles and sunbeams

Wherever are lonely hours. 

The "garment of His praise" it offers

For "heaviness of spirit" drear;

It gives me sunshine for my shadow,

And "beauty for ashes" here.

He gives me joy in place of sorrow;

He gives me love that casts out fear;

He gives me sunshine for my shadow

And "beauty for ashes" here. 

 

"Beauty For Ashes"
(1889)
John Grant Crabbe
(1865-1924)
American educator and hymn writer