Burned

Last week JB and I hiked Deer Creek Canyon. We enjoy the trails in this park because of the lovely vistas and quiet solitude. Due to unmelted snow and ice on our “regular” trail, we chose a different route. And while hiking we came across an unexpected sight.

The first thing we noticed were a few yucca plants with the beginnings of green leaves poking out from what looked like burnt stems. And as we progressed up this new trail we saw a small area of trees that looked completely black, obviously charred by a fire. It wasn’t until I got home and researched “Deer Creek Canyon Fire” that I learned about burning in that area the previous summer. Nearby residents had been evacuated, and that park plus two others close by were closed while firefighters fought to tame the flames.

The scene reminded me of a fire that burned very close to home a few years back. Neighbors guessed that some smokers had tossed lit matches into the drought-parched grass across the creek from our backyard. Although the hillside burst into flames, the blaze was small enough, and our location close enough to a fire station, that no trees were ignited and no one had to evacuate. In a short time the threat was extinguished.

But despite that hillside’s post-fire black and bleak appearance, by the following summer no one could tell there had ever been a fire there! New shoots grew from underground roots of the charred plants, and fertilized by the ashes, what appeared to be hopelessly dead vegetation emerged even greener and more vibrant than before.

This brings to mind Isaiah 61:3 where the prophet explained what God had sent him to do:

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.

I love that picture of beauty for ashes and trees of righteousness flourishing. It looks like what occurs in nature after a fire.

Hundreds of years after Isaiah’s declaration, Jesus stood in the temple at the start of His earthly ministry, reading Isaiah’s words, describing what the Father had sent Him to do. Part of that reads,

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath . . . sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,” (Isaiah 61:1 KJV)

God knows that we all get burned and scarred to various degrees. And regardless of whether these wounds were self-induced or innocently suffered, He sent Jesus to heal our broken hearts. If we’re rooted in Him, He can bring new life to those dead places. No wound is too deep for His love to heal.