Hope in Dry Bones: Lessons from Ezekiel 37
I keep reading these verses over and over again looking for what I am supposed to do to help God work fast to fix this. God tells Ezekiel to do is prophesy life into the death around him, then watch God do the rest.
37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;[a] it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath[b] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,[c] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had 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 the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:1-14 English Standard Version (ESV)
This is a long passage for my typical devotionals, but this is the only passage that was on my mind this week. What reminded me of this story was my peach tree. While all the plants in my garden have turned green and borne flowers - and some even have fruit - the peach tree continued to look like a withered stick in the mud.
I honestly wondered if I killed it.
My grandmothers (both sides of the family) seemed to have green thumbs, but my mother wasn't so natural at it until after I was off at college. I tend to grow things, but not always the way they are supposed to. I have had my share of deaths and disasters with plants, as well.
This peach tree had fruit on it when we moved into the house, and I was so excited about it. Unfortunately, the squirrels ate every single one of them. I was determined I would have fruit this coming year. I trimmed it, fertilized it, and did all the things I thought you were supposed to do.
I know from experience that sometimes you can over-fertilize something and kill it. This is what I was afraid had happened.
Suddenly this week, I spotted some green leaves sprouting from the tree as I was walking and thinking about world events. The passage from Ezekiel came to mind.
I have read article after article about COVID-19 and how it is affecting our world. Many of the articles point their finger at someone and say they are killing us because of what they did, are doing, or are not doing. The best-case scenarios are a lot of bad things. The result of all I read is a sense that we are dealing with an impossible situation that man cannot fix alone. When does all this stop? According to one article, it stops when the virus mutates and becomes less deadly, AND our immunities improve, AND we have a treatment for it, AND we have a vaccination for it. Honestly, that doesn't sound like it is fast enough to save very many lives in the meantime.
I keep reading these verses over and over again, looking for what I am supposed to do to help God work fast to fix this. Well, there isn't anything to make God move faster. The only thing God tells Ezekiel to do is prophesy life into the death around him, then sit back and watch God do the rest.
The little green leaves on the dead tree are all that is needed to bring hope of a positive future for the plant. We are the green leaves in a dead and dying world. As the church, we know our God can do the impossible. He can even raise the dead ... even the long-dead bones in a long-dead land. As the church, right now, our role is to speak life and hope.
We may not be able to meet people face to face, but we are still talking to each other through social media. I encourage all my believing readers to speak the life and hope we know of our all-powerful God. He IS still in control of all of this and he still hears our prayers. Speak about the good God has done for you. Remember all that God can do. Then watch God bring life and hope to the world around us. In all of this, the world will see God.
