What is the hope when you are in a hopeless situation?
These Israelites had been traumatized. They witnessed Jerusalem under siege for two years by the Babylonians, resulting in severe famine (2 King 25:3). They remembered how the Babylonians broke through the city wall, burned the city and the temple of God, killed many people of all ages, and forced the rest into exile. These Israelites in exile felt deserted by God and expressed their desperation with a common expression, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ (Ez 37:11)
Where is the hope for the hopeless?
One day, God gave Ezekiel, a young priest and prophet, a vision for the hopeless Israelites.
Ezekiel 37
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, You alone know.”
4 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”
Where is the hope? Even in a land filled with death, there is a hope for a renewed life for individuals, communities, and nations. The sure hope is that God has the power to resurrect the dry bones and to recreate new lives.
How does God do it?
1) God resurrects and recreates through obedient human agents. Ezekiel had to walk among the dry bones, which would have been anathema to the Israelites (Is 66:24). Not only so, he had to follow God’s strange commands to speak to the bones. But he did so obediently. Amazingly, God put the dry bones together, covered them with tendons, flesh, and skin, and breathed new breath into them. God desired Ezekiel’s participation, even though Ezekiel himself was probably as dead as the dry bones.
How dry are the bones within you and around you? Are you expecting miracles? God desires our participation too, through prayers, helping hands… And all this is done through listening to God and obeying God’s guidance humbly.
2) God resurrects and recreates through the power of the Spirit of God. “Breath”, “wind”, and “spirit” are the same word in Hebrew. Without the breath of the Spirit, there was no life for people for the people Ezekiel saw in the vision, even though they may have had all the physical elements: bones, tendons, flesh, and skin. Only after the Spirit breathed into them could they be alive and strong like a mighty army.
The same Spirit breathed into the nostrils of humanity to give them life in the Garden of Eden, raised Christ from the dead to be the first born over all creation, and gives a brand new life to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ (John 3:7,8; Romans 8:11). The presence of the Spirit of God assures us that we are no longer orphans, and God is with us, even though our personal lives, our families, our communities, and our society sometimes may seem to be as dead as dry bones (John 14:16-18).
So come to the Lord with all your distress and despair. Spend a few minutes to dwell in His presence, let the Spirit guide your prayer of confession and commitment. Receive His comfort, and obey whatever guidance the Lord gives you today.
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