Ezekiel 37:1-10
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
Often I’m asked what’s my vision for my church. While I kinda understand the root of the question, I hesitate to directly answer because I understand that the entity I’m being asked about doesn’t belong to me; it belongs to the Lord. So whenever I do provide some direction I preface my comment by saying, “Lord willing”. I don’t do this trying to be deep or mysterious, but instead to be perfectly clear. We can plan all we want, but in the end God, and only God makes the decisions for His Church. Not me. And the reason we need to always keep this in mind is because in serving the Lord you might at one moment find yourself among your family, friends and peers, and in another instant find yourself in a valley of dry bones.
This was the case with Ezekiel. At one point he was a promising young student in Israel, living free and easy, and before he knew it, he was a captive Babylonian slave. He experienced the pain of separation, defeat, isolation and loss, yet he still maintained his giftedness. He never stopped prophesying. Remember that. No matter what he went through, he never abandoned his gift.
It would have been easy for Ezekiel to throw up his hands and quit. I don’t think any of us would blame him. He could just believe God in silence. He didn’t have to keep sharing. He didn’t have to continue humiliating himself. But this outstanding prophet and servant of God continued putting himself in harms way, time after time, with little to show for it. He preached and no one believed. He prophesied and no one received the message. And now he has this incredible vision of a valley of dry bones. If he couldn’t do anything with living folk, what in the world was he going to do with a bunch of dead, dry bones?
But do you see what God did? God challenged the character of his faith to see what he was really made of. After giving Ezekiel a difficult assignment, God followed that with an impossible assignment. Anybody ever been there? I’m convinced God doesn’t even get interested in coming to our rescue until it reaches an impossible level. As long as we can figure it out, He will let us. As long as we have a possible solution, He will allow us to try it. But at the point of no return, when all hope is gone and we are fresh out of ideas, strength, desire or will, God comes shining through.
But here’s an interesting point. God did not initiate the miracle. He asked Ezekiel to do exactly what he had been doing. Since he was a prophet he instructed him to keep prophesying. He didn’t change his profession or enhance his skill set. God just anointed what he already had. It was Ezekiel’s obedience in following God’s instructions that gave him the victory. Unknown to him, he was carrying the solution to the dry bones the entire time. It was the anointed word of God in his voice, at God’s appointed time.
Dear child of God, your gift, anointed by God is waiting to be unleashed at the appointed time, even if it looks impossible. Only believe.
God Bless
