Ashes, Ashes...We All Fall Down

This is a silly little song we used to sing as kids with innocence in our eyes and the excitement of shouting these words as we "all fall down". Kids smile and laugh as they join hands around in a circle as they walk that ring around the Rosie.

Many have suspected that the origin of the song comes from circumstances surrounding the deadly Black plague. If so this was a dark time for many. A time of deep sorrow, agony and pain. I can imagine the physical, mental, and emotional strains this could put on a person.

In life today we face these obstacles still in many various forms that make us seem that we are down in the ash heap of life.

Ashes were used a symbol of mourning in the Biblical era. Sackcloth and ashes were used in Old Testament times as a symbol of debasement, mourning, and/or repentance.

“Also they will make themselves bald for you and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they will weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. Ezekiel 27:31

"So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." Daniel 9:3

We all fall down in the ashes from time to time.

I know often times we want to move on, we want to move past the hurt, the pain and the sorrow. We try to become apathetic to our feelings or find ways to forget. The Bible even encourages us to find the joy in the tribulation, but I wonder sometimes if we're just supposed to sit in our ashes. To be still to sit in the mud and the mire and wait for our Lord to pull us out and rescue us.

Recently this thought crossed my mind as things in my life were troubling me, saddened by events that were out of my control.

My normal mode of operation is to

a. to be anxious and worry about my problems, talk about them, gripe about them, etc.

b. become apathetic to the point that I can avoid my problems (distract myself with worldly things so I don't have to think about or face these issues).

I felt God tell me, "Not this time. I want you to focus on me." I felt that He wanted me to be still and know that he was God, to only be still and let him fight my battle for me. Not to control or ignore it, but to give it to my Lord and my God.

So I did.

I cried out to God in prayer and literal tears.

I sat in His presence.

I sang worship songs.

I read scripture pertaining to God being my shield, rescue, strength and He spoke to me.

I sought Him and I found Him, I I asked and he answered, I knocked and he opened the door.

Sometimes we just have to sit in our ashes.

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. Lamentations 3:25-26; 28-30

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:8-10.

That's what it's about, right there! Drawing near to God and humbling ourselves before Him and bringing ourselves so low that only he can pick us back up, only he can build us up. God doesn't always expect our best from us. He can take us at our worst and build us up from there if we just humble ourselves, be still, and let him work.

Sometimes we just need to sit in the ashes.

Once we are out of the ashes, once we are on the other side, it's a beautiful place to be in the presence of the Lord, to draw close to him and witness his faithfulness. Even if we are unfaithful, God is still faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13

In the very same book that exhorts us to lie face down in the dust, to sit still in the ashes, the book about lament itself, we are told that things will get better for those who follow these instructions. The author reminds us that God's faithful love of the Lord never ends and His mercies never cease. That His faithfulness is great and His mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

There's hope for a new day tomorrow.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,

and he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground

and steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what he has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3

Waiting on the Lord only gives us strength and builds us up as Isiah 40:31 tells us.

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

He gives power to the weak

and strength to the powerless.

Even youths will become weak and tired,

and young men will fall in exhaustion.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

When we are down, when we are sitting in the dirt, mud, mire, or ashes of life, God will lift our spirits.

Psalm 3:3 reminds us, "You, O Lord are a shield around us and the lifter of my head." "Lift my head" here in this context is the figurative giving of strength, where God can lift us up.

When we are down in the dumps, unhappy depressed sitting alone in the ashes that we have fallen down into, our heads are bowed low. When are heads are bowed low in depression, it needs to be low in prayer and God will lift that head to look up and praise him. He will lift us up and exalt us.

Although there is a time to mourn, a time to sit in the ashes, we are not meant to stay there. If we look to God, He will uplift us, exalt us, and give us the strength that we need. He will lift up our heads. We may all fall down, but we can rise from the ashes if we depend on the Lord for our strength and those who do will all stand on the solid rock of Christ.