Bringing Life To Dead Bones

Read:  Ezekiel 37:1-14

“…Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD God to these bones: Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.’”—Ezekiel 37:4-5

Judah had undergone Babylonian exile as punishment for their disobedience. The glory days of King David and King Solomon were distant memories. Jerusalem laid in ruin. The best and brightest of the nation’s youth were taken captive. Judah was a dying nation awaiting the benediction.
 
But God wasn’t done with Judah. God was ready to deliver Judah from the brink of destruction and restore it to a glorious future. So He transports Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones. There, God asks Ezekiel, “…can these bones live?” God tells Ezekiel to prophesy, “…O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!”  When Ezekiel spoke as commanded, the bones joined together, muscle and flesh covered the bones, skin enveloped the flesh, and breath filled the lifeless bodies so they became “an exceedingly great army.” Then God told Ezekiel, just as He brought these dry bones to life, He would bring life and restoration to the nation.
 
Like Judah, we can find ourselves living captive in a world of despair and defeat that tells us our circumstances are beyond restoration—that we are permanently exiled to a valley of dry bones. But as a phrase has been coined, “our situation is not necessarily our destination.” Wherever you are today, God still has a plan for your life—He’s not done with you yet. Hearing, speaking, believing and living out God’s Word is the passageway from a hopeless valley of dry bones, to God’s peace, joy and true fulfillment in life.
 
The Word of God continually speaks life into all aspects of our lives. When God speaks, and we listen, even the most desperate of situations are turned around. Dead men live, blind men see, lame men walk, and darkness becomes light. Whatever we face, God has already spoken life and blessings for us that can’t be reversed! 

Lesson to Remember:  We will never see life come out of our circumstances when we speak death, doubt and fear. We must agree with God and His Word and speak life, for He is a God of life, not death and despair.

“…God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.”—Romans 4:17

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