"For I have eaten ashes like bread.” I would like to take this text in its applicational form rather than its interpretational setting. I’d like to spiritualize it, if you’ll permit me. Paul tells us we are justified in doing so, for, says he, all scripture is profitable for not only doctrine , but instruction in righteousness, also.
Ashes remind us of something that once was, but is no more. The ashes on the Old Testament altar represented various offerings to God, but were now past. The offerer could not live on them in the present. One cannot live on yesterday’s ashes. There must be daily sacrifices, fresh ones, if one is to please God.
One of the responsibilities of the priests in the Old Testament was to never let the flame on the altar go out, because the flame represented the presence of God. The flame was to burn day and night. The priest, daily, would remove the ashes from the altar and take them outside the camp. IF NOT REMOVED, THE FIRE WOULD GO OUT.
Some of us, I fear, are living on yesterday’s blessings. It’s time to remove the ashes from the altar of our lives. And if the fire has gone out, to re-kindle it again!
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