Dry Bones

What once was alive, is now dead.

 

Ponder that for a moment.

 

Maybe it describes you.

 

rebirth, regeneration, rejuvenation, renewal, reutilization, resurrection…revival.

Do you long for these things?

 

“…I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 37:6b

 

A little background on this story…In the Old Testament, there was a man named Ezekiel who was a prophet.  God spoke into Ezekiel many things that were going to be happening in the future.  All through the power of God alone.

 

In Ezekiel 37, God has taken Ezekiel to a grave full of dry bones.  They represent the Israelites, God’s people.

In this moment, God instructs Ezekiel to speak to these dry bones…and so he does.

Ezekiel tells the bones that they will come to life-that breath will fill them again-and in that very moment, he heard the clanging of bone on bone…he saw tendons and flesh begin to wrap around those bones!  God told Ezekiel to continue speaking into the bones and as he did, the 4 winds rushed in and gave breath of life back into the bones!  They came to life and stood up on their feet!

This story is found in Ezekiel 37:1-14.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+37%3A1-14&version=NIV

 

You can’t get much more dead than being a pile of dried up bones in a grave.  No flesh.  No tendons.  No muscle.  Dead.  Door nail dead.

 

Since “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16, let’s look at what God had in mind for His people and bring it to our own lives today.

 

*God showed Ezekiel the bones. He made him walk by them several times and take in the valley which was now being used as a grave yard.

God will show you what is dead.

*God asked him if those dry bones could live again.  Ezekiel answered with humility and awe with “Sovereign Lord, you alone know”.

God will point you to Himself as our only hope.

*The dry bones themselves were suffering.  They cried from the grave that they were dried up, they had no hope, and they were cut off.

The thing which is dead will cry out for restoration.

*God told Ezekiel what to say to the dry bones.  He was going to open their graves, lift them out, put His spirit back into the bones, and cause life again.  He proclaimed exactly what He intended to do.

God’s words have power and He is a man of His word.

*He goes on to say that once life has reentered these bones, He will place them into the land He wants them in, and He will settle there with them.

God doesn’t just revive what’s dead, He gives it direction and sticks around and settles there with it.

*”…Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” (14b)    This is our testimony, when God takes something that was once alive, was then cut off, without hope and dried up, and He has breathed new life into it.

He wants all of the credit.  All of it.

 

Hopeless, dried up, cut off…He wants to breath His spirit into you and bring you back to life.  His breath reaches to every part of who you are.  Your relationships, your work, your purpose, your dreams.  He longs to bring you up, set you back on your feet, breath His spirit back into you, direct you where you should go next and settle with you there.

I believe He wants us to see just how powerful He is and that without His power living in us, we are spiritually dead.

 

Dry bones…call out to God and tell Him how you’re feeling!  His ear is bent towards your prayers and He alone has the power to bring life-giving change!  Reach up, He will reach back.

 

Let’s let go of our own ideas of how to bring back to life that which is dead.

 

His way is better.

His way is permanent.

His way is eternal.

His way points people to Him, and that is the point!

 

This song quotes a lot of Ezekiel 37…click on it…and thank Him for the life-giving power that His words hold and the invitation that we have to invite that power into our lives.