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Monday, September 19, 2011

Monday Musings - Dry Bones

With all this reading through Ezekiel - I was so looking forward to getting to chapter 37 - because it is one of my all time favorite Bible stories.  Ezekiel is taken by the Lord to a valley full of dry bones (popular travel destination - no doubt!)  Ezekiel observes that there are a lot of bones and that they are very dry (let's say good and dead). Here is what happens.


3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
    I said, "Master God, only you know that."
 4 He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"
 5-6 God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
 7-8 I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
 9 He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, 'God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"
 10 So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.


In the NASB - it says - Oh dry bones - hear the word of the Lord! and when the bones come together it says that they rattled.  I mean, rustling is a perfectly good word, but rattling really tells me what that must have sounded like.   Can you even imagine witnessing this amazing sight?  Dead bones - all over the ground - completely coming to life.  It is God's Word - His Spirit that brings them to life.


So - what does this have to do with us?  I know I have plenty of flesh on my bones!  The truth of this passage is that even what appears to be dead - I mean DEAD to the point of decaying with only bones left - is not beyond God's ability to bring to life.  This is one of my favorite pictures of just how Mighty my God is - bringing what is dead, back to life.


If you are reading this, obviously, you are not dead :-)  But, physical life is not all we are after.  You can be walking and breathing and still truly be a pile of dead bones laying on the ground.  If you haven't decided to believe in Jesus and in His mighty power to save and give you eternal life - then you are a pile of dead bones (no offense - it is just the truth!)  If you have Jesus as your Savior - you can certainly go through times when you feel like a pile of dry bones. 

Maybe you have thought about believing in Jesus and giving your life to Him - but you are a little hesitant to give up your dry bones.

Maybe it is just a time of spiritual dryness - you just don't feel anything.

Maybe it is just a particular area of your life where you are just dry bone disobedient.

Maybe you are just struggling or hurting in an area of your life and that feels like dry bones.

Perhaps you are experiencing the dry bones of discouragement, fear or frustration.


The good news is - even dry, decaying, dead bones are not beyond the Lord's touch.  He is is the business of bringing dead bones to life. 

Are you laying lifeless in a valley right now?  
Do you know others who are?  

One of the funny things about our dry, dead bones is that we grow to be pretty comfortable with them. Perhaps you have given up hope that new life could be breathed into your dry bones.  

Do not lose hope.


What is that I hear?  Rattling? 

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