This short post gives inspiration and encouragement from the example of a man who had deep despair but who himself found comfort.
Sometimes we feel like we just can't go on. We feel like we are useless failures or worse.
"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. He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.'"
Ezekiel 37:2-3, NIV.
DRIED BONES
Ezekiel encountered God and was challenged with a question. "Can these bones live?" At times when we ask the same question. We say my "life is ruined beyond hope." It may be after a loss of a job, or a bereavement, or a major life crisis. Perhaps we made some horrendous decisions and will pay the price for years. We feel we have ruined everything. In short, we feel we are the dried bones, nothing more.
FOCUS
Ezekiel gives us direction with the words. "O Sovereign Lord..." We focus on the wrong things. Though we need to be realistic, we must focus not on those grim facts but shift our focus on Him who is the "Sovereign Lord."
Why of all the names the prophet could have used for God did he say Sovereign Lord and not Almighty God or one of his other titles? When we are looking at the dried-up bones in our lives it is best to remember that God is sovereign, He is the king of all things, even death; and remember that He is the Lord, it is a double emphasis of God as a ruler with authority and power.
GOD
Then Ezekiel said, "You alone know." There may not be human answers for the problems we face, but trust God, he knows the why. Ezekiel was humble and we should come to God with humility, acknowledging our ignorance and weakness. God knows why we are going through a time of dry bones. He knows what it leads to and what will be the outcome.
YES
The bones were "very" dry, they had no life remaining in them: there was no spark, no possibility that they could have regenerated by natural processes. They were dead, dead, dead. Can these bones live? It would seem impossible, but God's answer "Yes!" In Ezekiel 37 God puts flesh on the bones and resurrects an army. God is doing that same thing today in the lives of those who come to him. Their dead lives are given new life, and like Jesus said, they are "born again."
Maybe your times of dead bones are the times that are making you ready for a new life. Jesus offers a new life if we come to him.
***
Sometimes we feel like we just can't go on. We feel like we are useless failures or worse.
"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. He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.'"
Ezekiel 37:2-3, NIV.
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| Ezekiel and the valley of dried bones |
DRIED BONES
Ezekiel encountered God and was challenged with a question. "Can these bones live?" At times when we ask the same question. We say my "life is ruined beyond hope." It may be after a loss of a job, or a bereavement, or a major life crisis. Perhaps we made some horrendous decisions and will pay the price for years. We feel we have ruined everything. In short, we feel we are the dried bones, nothing more.
FOCUS
Ezekiel gives us direction with the words. "O Sovereign Lord..." We focus on the wrong things. Though we need to be realistic, we must focus not on those grim facts but shift our focus on Him who is the "Sovereign Lord."
Why of all the names the prophet could have used for God did he say Sovereign Lord and not Almighty God or one of his other titles? When we are looking at the dried-up bones in our lives it is best to remember that God is sovereign, He is the king of all things, even death; and remember that He is the Lord, it is a double emphasis of God as a ruler with authority and power.
GOD
Then Ezekiel said, "You alone know." There may not be human answers for the problems we face, but trust God, he knows the why. Ezekiel was humble and we should come to God with humility, acknowledging our ignorance and weakness. God knows why we are going through a time of dry bones. He knows what it leads to and what will be the outcome.
YES
The bones were "very" dry, they had no life remaining in them: there was no spark, no possibility that they could have regenerated by natural processes. They were dead, dead, dead. Can these bones live? It would seem impossible, but God's answer "Yes!" In Ezekiel 37 God puts flesh on the bones and resurrects an army. God is doing that same thing today in the lives of those who come to him. Their dead lives are given new life, and like Jesus said, they are "born again."
Maybe your times of dead bones are the times that are making you ready for a new life. Jesus offers a new life if we come to him.
© Adron 3/21/12
