Is There Hope for These Dry Bones?

Reading the One Year Bible this week led me to Ezekiel 37:1-14, which is one of my favorite OT stories. The Israelites were a broken people. They were in captivity in Babylon. They had become lost, despondent, confused, and hopeless. They saw no end in sight for ever making it back to their own land.

Fast forward to 2020 in our own nation right now. We see no end in sight for ever finding solutions to these situations of COVID19, racial unrest, economic downfall, and political upheaval, and returning our lives to what they were before 2020.

Let’s look at some history of Ezekiel’s time. The book, “What the Bible is All About”, tells us that “God had told of Judah’s captivity by Babylon over 100 years before it happened (Isaiah 39:6, Micah 4:10). The seventy years of its duration were foretold by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-12). God even told them the exact time of their exile. But the captivity did not bring the people of Judah back to God. This judgment of God only seemed to drive the people into greater wickedness. They worshipped idols and set up shrines in the hills and defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah (Ezekiel 5:11). They had been wicked and stiff-necked; they were guilty of unspeakable sin and abomination. When other nations did what Israel had done, God wiped them out. But all of God’s dealings with Israel were for correction. He was punishing his children for their sin and was teaching them great lessons. He said a remnant would survive.

(Mears, Dr. Henrietta C.; What the Bible is All About; pages 257, 259-260, 262)

How far away from God has our nation strayed? How many have been "wicked and stiff-necked"?

In Ezekiel 37: 1-14, God has taken Ezekiel (in a vision) to a deserted land where all he can see are dry bones which are not connected to each other but laying flat on the ground. As far as he can see - even into other countries! God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones and tell them to hear the word of the Lord. The word hear is shama’ (shaw-mah’) in Hebrew, and it means to hear intelligently; obedience; be attentive; understand. So God didn’t just want them to listen to this command, and let the words go in one ear and out the other. He intended for them to be attentive and to hear these words with understanding. He meant business.

There was a noise, a shaking that took place. It was a vibration, a commotion, a quaking, a rattling. God’s Word had stirred these bones into action, and the healing process had begun. The sinews connected the bones, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath. God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind, or ruwach meaning breath, to come upon the slain that they might live. Upon Ezekiel’s word, the breath came into these reconnected bones covered with skin, and they lived. The word live is chayah (khaw-yaw;) which means to recover; repair; restore to life; revive; be whole. They were recovered; repaired; restored to life; revived and made whole again. They stood up on their feet and were an exceeding great army!

But that’s not the end of this vision.

The Lord continued to talk with Ezekiel explaining that these bones represented the whole house of Israel. The Israelites had said that their bones were dry and their hope was lost, but that is not what God said. God told Ezekiel to prophesy once again to them that he would open their graves and bring them out. He would put his spirit in them and place them in their own land, and they would know that it was the Lord who performed it.

Through this summary of the “dry bones” scripture, God was showing Ezekiel how he was going to bring back the people of Israel - to rejoin them; reconnect them; restore them; to give them hope; to let them know without a doubt that he was their God. He needed Ezekiel to help the Israelites to understand this and to have hope. As many times as God’s people turned away from him, he continued to use various ways to bring them back to him. He could have wiped them out, but he loved them too much and wanted them to know that he would never give up on them.

Think about our country right now. Can you see the similarities? We are like bones who are disconnected from each other, separated because of COVID, racial injustice, economic fallout, and political upheaval. We are scattered across this nation laying flat on the ground and not piled on top of each other - totally disconnected. The enemy has covered this nation and this world with fear and trepidation. Yes, we have had over 250,000 people to die from the coronavirus, millions infected, and food lines which are off the map! The effects are real.

But our God is still in control. Our God is bigger than all of this! As Ezekiel prophesied to the bones, they heard God’s Word. God wants His people to reconnect, repair, heal, restore, revive, and be whole. He will cover us with His Almighty Word and the blood of Jesus to launch this process of reconnecting and recovering. Then He will put his spirit in us and placed us in the right locations for His purpose, and all people will know that it is the Lord who is performing it.

We must remember what God said and not what the "other guy" said and not how we "feel". May we continue to keep our focus on God and not be distracted by the enemy or the evening news or social media. Yes, we need to stay informed, but we do not need to be consumed with it.

Let God do what He does best - to love and care for us. He knows how; He has a pretty good track record!; and He needs us to be patient! Let His words stir us to hear with understanding. Let us know/believe that hope is not lost because that is not what God said! We have His spirit in us, and we MUST put our trust in Him that what we have asked of Him, He will perform it.

1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence (belief) that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel