Word Study For Today: The Book Of Psalms Chapter 128.
Devotion: THE EXCHANGE
Text: Ruth 4:1-17. | Isaiah 62:1-12. | Isaiah 61:3.
Could these scriptures describe your state? >>>>“God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.”[Job 30:19 ESV].
>“For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,”[Psalms 102:9 ESV]
Have you experienced what is called “better days” and today you feel dejected and depressed? Do you appear like one who ‘mourns in Zion’. Is there a void of joy in you? Is this your lament? >>>> 14)“I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 15)He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 16)He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 17)my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;”[Lamentations 3:14-17 ESV].
Ohhh! What a state we sometimes find ourselves[just like the people of the bible days]. This state or feeling however is not an end in itself, it is never a destination for a child of God. The Bible says in Job 14:7-9(ESV)==>7)”For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. 8)Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, 9)yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant..
>“…Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”[Psalms 30:5b ESV].
Beloved there’s an end to pressure, there’s an end to hopelessness, there’s an end to turmoil; >“For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”[Proverbs 23:18 KJV].
What you expect will come through, your hope is coming alive, the dawn of your joy is here. The scent of water is coming right now upon your hewned tree, and without fail you shall bud again. For the Saviour of the world, the Lord of all, Jesus Christ is here to minister to you as it is written and ordained of Him >“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”[Isaiah 61:3 KJV].
The Lord is giving you BEAUTY FOR ASHES. There’s a beautiful exchange that’s taking place. For every representation of ashes in your exploit and life, the beauty of the Lord is coming upon you >“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”[Psalms 90:17 KJV].
A shift, total shift is here! Like Job something is happening to you. Beauty for ashes is yours. >“And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”[Job 42:10 NKJV].
For your shame you are receiving double portion of honour. >“Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.”[Isaiah 61:7 NLT].
Surely a beautiful inheritance is apportioned to you. Therefore the Lord is giving you, BEAUTY FOR ASHES.
Prayer Action:
-Worship the beautiful God in the beauty of His holiness.
-Pray in God’s beautiful language for 15 minutes.
-Pray for the release of the anointing of Christ[that which gives beauty for ashes]; pray it upon yourself.
-Expound on gray areas that need the beauty of the Lord God in your life.
- FOR EVERY SHAME THERE IS DOUBLE HONOR.
