Ashes and Oil

"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). In this verse it mentions both ashes and oil. These are fundamentally the ingredients for soap. You need both the ashes and the oil for soap to work. If you only rub ash on yourself, or only rub oil, you're just going to get dirtier. But combine the two and you can wash away any impurities and become clean. There are two parts to the repentance process and you need both to become clean. The ashes of Godly sorrow and the oil of joy and forgiveness have to work together or you can not become clean. Justice and Mercy must work together for the healing and cleansing effects of repentance and the Atonement to take effect. If we only focus on beating ourselves up and wallowing in our sorrow, then we're just rubbing ashes on ourselves and never getting clean. Similarly, if we just blindly assume that Jesus has saved us and we never attempt to correct our behaviors but merely believe that we are automatically forgiven and saved in our sins, that's just pouring on the oil of forgiveness without actually getting any cleaner. We need mercy and justice, we need Atonement and forgiveness, we need to pay the price and accept the grace, we need sorrow and joy, we need ashes and oil. God doesn't want us to be miserable without hope nor ignorantly blissful. He wants us to embrace the fullness of life, the good and the bad, the sorrow and the joy, the ashes and the oil. I hope we can allow the sorrow and the joy to combine together to wash away the grime and embrace all of the enabling grace of the Atonement.