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IDOP 2012 THEME:
Beauty For Ashes
This year’s theme is Beauty for Ashes is based on Isaiah 61:1-3,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
(vs. 3)
Burned out churches, bombs exploding targeting places of worship, arrests, beatings, bloody attacks... these are not the scenes that we associate with the word beauty. For many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, they live a life of ongoing intimidation and persecution such as we in the West have never experienced. Yet in the midst of the most gruesome and ugly examples of human behaviour rises something so unexpected, it is utterly beautiful. It is the genuine faith of one put to the ultimate test, standing as a testament to the love of their God and Saviour, and as a witness to the Gospel of Christ. Indescribably beautiful.
And joy instead of mourning? How do we dare suggest this to those who have suffered so much? The loss and devastation of these, our ‘spiritual siblings’, for us is unimaginable. But we see in their faces . . . this strange joy, a joy not of this world.
This strange joy . . . is found by the widow in India whose husband was beaten to death by a mob because of his conversion to Christianity and is now left without the means to make a living and without the gentle hand of her lifelong friend, but she reads through the Psalms every day and finds Hope.
This strange joy . . . is known in the heart of a 10-year-old boy in Nigeria who witnessed the brutal slaughter of his family and is now left to fend for himself, but bravely declares "Christ is my Saviour, I will follow him!"
This strange joy . . . is understood by the pastor in Pakistan who lost his wife in a recent attack on their church and struggles to explain to his children why his faith is so important to him, and with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face says "we will be with her again one day."
In the song What Kind of Joy by artist Steven Curtis Chapman we capture a glimpse of what it is that might be known by those who have suffered persecution:
What kind of joy is this
That counts it a blessing to suffer?
What kind of joy is this
That gives a prisoner his song?
What kind of joy could stare death in the face
And see it as sweet victory?
This is the joy of a soul that’s forgiven and free.
(listen to "What Kind of Joy" here)
We often see the pictures of the persecuted, hear the stories of devastation, and read of their loss of freedom and feel more than a world away from them in experience. Look again, read the words above. Isn't what makes us one with them found in the simple truth of being "forgiven and free"? We have all known the torture and devastation of sin, and know what it is to have been set free to a new hope and a new future. Like them we know we are not of this world. Joy is found in mourning when we know we will one day be free of this world and its ugliness. Beauty is found in the ashes when all that is left after a trial by fire is the truth of the Gospel refined in our hearts.
Still, we are often wordless when we try to comfort those who have suffered and lost much. Let's pray with Isaiah over those persecuted:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)
As our persecuted brothers and sisters are called to stand in the face of great adversity, so we are called to pray. And as we do, may our dedication to pray match their dedication to stand.
Join us on November 4, 2012 and pray.