DRY BONES

Ezekiel.37:3 – “God asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?”.

Have you been to a valley of dry bones? Ezekiel had never been there either until the day the Spirit took him there. I am not sure if he was really there or maybe he was caught up in a vision, or if the bones were real, but it was very real to Ezekiel that day. He was in the Spirit like John would be in the Spirit on Patmos 600 years later. The Lord was showing Ezekiel the spiritual condition of the people of Israel, they were totally dry and were in a state of death. This could be a picture of our country today, once America was proud of its heritage and even taught about the role of Christianity in its founding recognizing that our land was birthed by God and had a role to play in the world. Israel lost her way just as America has lost her way, it could also be said that most of the church has lost its way. Here is how Max Lucado describes this vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.

“I’ve never been to the valley that Ezekiel visited. But I sat next to a person on a flight who told me that his life had lost all meaning. I’ve never walked the valley of dry bones, but I’ve listened to a suicidal mother describe a dark place from which she could find no exit. I’ve never stepped through a field of femurs and rib cages, but I have spoken to a young man whose life was rubbed raw by opioid addiction. I’ve not gazed at acres of fleshless forms, but I’ve witnessed the proud left wordless at a funeral, not knowing what to say at the unwelcome reminder of death. I’ve not found myself ankle deep in dry bones, but I’ve looked in the mirror and seen a pastor with a dry faith and wondered if this hard heart could ever soften again.

Can these bones live?”

So maybe we actually live in the Valley of Dry Bones. If that is the case and if the hand of the Lord is on us like it was on Ezekiel then we have to answer that same question, “Can these bones live?”. Of course the answer is a huge yes but that yes requires our response. We must prophesy, we must proclaim God’s word over these dry bones. We have to bring life to the struggling single mom, we must bring hope to the teen abandoned by his parents and struggling for their next breath, we must love those who are bound by drugs and alcohol who cannot even love themselves. Can these bones live? Speak God’s word and soon you will find out.