Imagine going hiking and climbing up to your summit and overlooking the beauty that surrounds you. But, with everything in life, we must go back down. As you descend into the valley, you notice it lay covered with bones. Everywhere. They are scattered as far as the eye can see on top of the dusty ground. You can feel the agony as the bones are twisted and separated…you can’t tell where one skeleton starts and another begins. I’m sure you would feel like I do as I am typing it out on my phone this morning. Does scared, puzzled and anxious come to mind?
Maybe you are in a valley? Not just any valley, but a valley full of dry bones? When you look around all you see is death, destruction and a sense of fear clouds over you…not sure what to do? I know, there have been times when I have stood in a valley like that and wondered how I would see the death around me turned to life again. It’s so scary to not understand why you are going through a particular valley…and even worse if you are in that valley because of your own decisions!
But, God!
In Chapter 37, we see Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones. God gives him a vision of this land full of dry, dead bones. God even asks him, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel says, “Oh Lord, only You know.” He then tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones and if you don’t know what happens next, get ready…
They come together! Even more awesome, Ezekiel tells the bones to live and breath comes within them! Now all this is done in the name of the Lord and through the power of an Almighty God! This impossible feat was the work of God alone through Ezekiel speaking to the dry bones! Oh, the faith it takes to look at dry bones and say “get up and breathe”! I know that the bones in Ezekiel 37 were representative of the house of Israel, but when I heard my pastor talk about them Sunday morning I was overcome with excitement. Excitement about dead, dry bones? No, not death…but the life that is found when we speak in Jesus’ name to the death in our lives!
I don’t know where you are today, but I know that there is life in your valley of the dry bones. As you stand surveying the destruction, speak to the problems, the confusion, the trial and ask God to “rattle those bones” (verse 7) and bring life to the spiritual dryness within you. He will breathe life into you, friend. Your problem may not go away immediately, but I know that at the moment you choose to speak life and truth (The Word of God) to them, the Holy Spirit will cause things to come together for your good! You may not know what to do, but you must know and trust Who has the power to do the impossible. If God can make the valley of dry bones come alive, surely He is able to bring you out of your own spiritual valley…back to the top of the mountain! When He does it for you, you can’t help but be changed and know that God is Yahweh (verse 14).
Ezekiel 37:1-14
