~ written by Connie Dunmyer
Ezekiel 37: The Valley of Dry Bones
Does your life sometimes feel like a “valley of dry bones”? When you look at the “long-time trial” you are dealing with, does it seem dead and dry? And you’ve kind of gotten used to it looking that way? Hope seems far away – like a mirage in the desert? Believe me – I get it. This scripture visualizes my struggle.
If you look up commentaries and sermons regarding this passage, you’ll find more opinions than you can count. I say that so you understand that I am in no way an expert. In my most recent study, I simply asked God to make it personal to my current situation, my own desert of dry bones. I hope my thoughts and impressions from God give you hope as they have me.
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.”
The first thing I notice are the very first words – The hand of the Lord was on me. Wow – what a most precious thing. For the Lord – to know, to sense, to feel – His very hand is extraordinary.
The other part that strikes me is Ezekiel’s answer. I would’ve looked at the bones and said “nope – cannot live – it’s too late.” But he did not. Ezekiel’s response resonates faith. My words tend to resonate ‘fear’. Words mean things. I must take care the words I say – it affects what I think and believe.
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
Then God told Ezekiel to “prophesy” to those dead dry bones . . . to actually tell these dry dead bones what was going to happen.
5. . . I will put breath in 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.’”
I feel like this is me. The time I share with God is when I receive His Breath. It’s only by His breath that I have any life at all. When I was “dead”, He brought me back to life. And now that I am “living”, it is still His Breath that gives me the spiritual oxygen I need to live, to worship, to sing, to get out of bed, to believe again.
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.
Now I’m only speaking for me . . . but if it were me, and I hear the noise, and see the bones moving – I am like “Wow – that is so cool!”. . . “That’s good enough” . . . “That must be all the miracle I get”. And I would likely have STOPPED at verse 7. I would have asked for no more. BUT – this was NOT the extent of what God said. God said – and Ezekiel prophesied – that God would put His breath in them and they would come to life!
I wonder what the time frame was between verse 8 and verse 9. Is it possible that I am living in between those verses?
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.
I wonder – did God wait to do the last part to see if Ezekiel would “wait for it” – would he receive the full promise – hit gold, not stop 3 feet from it? Did Ezekiel even consider walking away and saying “That was amazing. God really can do anything.” Might he have even “forgotten” the last phrase about the very breath of God – or at least passed it off as “I must’ve misunderstood”.
Because that’s me. I can be guilty of settling. And thus I’ve probably missed plenty of God-breathed-living-bone-armies in my life, because of it. But not this time!
My “bones” are not yet living. My struggle is not yet solved. Oh yes, there are plenty of bones. There are lots of ideas and possibilities. What’s more some of my “bones” have skin and tendons. BUT there is NO Breath of God in them. They are not living. . . . . .
YET!!!
I love this song. I’m sure you’ve heard it. Before you hit play, think of your struggle, your dry bones. Yes – you’ve been watching them get drier and drier. It’s been such a long time. I know it has. But think of it and then hit play. As you listen to it, close your eyes, lift your hands, hear from and believe in the Father, Himself, that He is even now breathing His amazing holy breath of heaven upon your dry bones. Don’t settle. Don’t stop believing! Your answer may be but 3 feet away. It may come in the next 10 minutes. Listen – do you hear that rattle?
Prayer: I ask, in the Precious and Powerful Name of Jesus, that YOU, the Creator and Maker of all things good, would breathe Your breath upon these bones. Not just mine, but on the dry bones of those reading this. Breathe upon the possibilities. Breathe upon those You can use to “make things happen”. Like Ezekiel, I call upon the four winds to breathe into these “slain” THAT THEY MAY LIVE!