ODJ: covered in ashes
March 9, 2011
[You] cover yourselves with ashes. . . . Do you really think this will please the Lord? (v.5).
READ: Isaiah 58:1-14
Today is Ash Wednesday. It’s the first day of the Lent season, observed several weeks before Good Friday. Those who attend Ash Wednesday services typically apply ashes (or will have ashes applied) to their foreheads. The priest or pastor marks the forehead of each worshiper, often saying, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Ashes in the Bible are viewed as a symbol of humility and associated with repentance from sin. To demonstrate that they had repented from their sins, people put on burlap or sackcloth and sat in ashes or placed ashes on themselves (Esther 4:3; Job 42:6; Matt. 11:21). So, wearing burlap and ashes are ways to express sorrow and mourning.
The prophet Isaiah, however, warned that merely performing an outward show of religious rituals doesn’t please God. “They act so pious! They come to the temple every day . . . pretending they want to be near Me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance . . . . Do you really think this will please the Lord?” (Isaiah 58:2,5). God looks at the heart—and their hearts were far from Him (29:13).
Isaiah called God’s people to please Him by doing what’s right: Act justly and treat workers fairly (58:3,6,9), stop fighting and quarrelling among themselves (v.4), help those burdened or imprisoned by life’s circumstances and poverty (v.6), and be generous to those in need (vv.7,10).
Simply observing external rituals will not please God if the heart does not seek to obey Him. God lamented to His prophet: “My people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. . . . They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!” (Ezekiel 33:31-32).
God wants your heart, not a show. —K.T. Sim
How do you “prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins”? (Matthew 3:8). In what ways have you been acting pious externally, but not truly seeking God in your heart?
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