Ezekiel's Vision of Dry Bones

Monday -

Yesterday, we had a special time of ministry in Woodland Park. We drove through a wonderland of snowy trees and low mountains - 35 miles west of Colorado Springs.

We were invited to minister in the church gathering and took up the text of Ezekiel 37. It seemed to be a word for us all - and Jackie & I felt, perhaps for you too. Here it is in very brief summary. I have included three action steps for those of you who want to take this into your life immediately.

(You need to get a Bible and read the first 14 verses of that 37th chapter of Ezekiel. Look in the index if you have trouble finding it.)

Chapter 37 - verses 1-6 -

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1. God takes Ezekiel to a valley - a valley is normally the place of roads, streams, growth, habitation, food, livestock etc....it is a good place. But this one is not...

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2. The valley is "full" of bones....the bones of people "slain" (:10) in combat at a much earlier time. (This part of the world has been a perpetual battleground for generations.)

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3. The bones are "very dry"...they have gone though decomposition and on until they are like the heads of cattle we sometimes see on ranges that are vast and dry....or in Egyptian archeology.


4. God says to Ezekiel - walk around, look, what do you see?....ie God is helping Ezekiel really see....and that is often our need too. We are surrounded by dry bones in our valleys and don't really see them. Consider: David Wilkerson who walked the streets of New York some years ago - sees the same people the other millions of people see, but sees them differently - drug addicts, without truth, without hope, without help..."dry bones." And out of his seeing, God births Teen Challenge - a ministry that today some 50 years later is ministering to thousands of youth, even as I write this blog.

5. Then after Ezekiel really sees what is in the valley, God asks this question: Can these bones live? (In this passage there are 9 times when "ruah" - the Hebrew word for life, spirit, breath - is used. That is the key to everything - it is the life of the Spirit of God that must come upon us for spiritual dryness to end and our full function as people on the planet now to begin to happen.) So...can these dry bones live? - can this dryness end? - can what was lost be found? - can bitterness be replaced with forgiveness and love?

6. Ezekiel's response to God's question is a polite demurring - he takes what to me is the righteous detour that many of us find so easy to take when faced with a faith challenge. "God is sovreign. He knows everything - omniscient" (if I need to impress someone with my theological grasp). Now, isn't that a polite and safe way for Ezekiel/me to reply?

7. So God guides Ezekiel along a path that will lead to seeing life in the valley.

Here is the path:

Step One - Really see the bones that are bleaching around you...the ruin that can come from the battles of life. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Anger/rage. Depression. Hopelessness. Self-destruction. Let the needs you really see in your valley grip you...there will be little that happens that makes any difference at all - unless you and I really see and are gripped by it.

Action:
When I think of my valley right now, here is what I see -:


Step Two - "Prophesy to the bones" ie - speak words as led by God to something lifeless. We all must begin by getting so close to God, so close, that we can speak in faith to what seems impossible. This often takes special prayer, soaking in the Bible, getting very clean inside - confessing anything that might hinder the full, open spirit we must have to be so used by God. In due season, the conviction will begin to rise within us that we are hearing the heart of God and can begin to speak in faith. (Remember the declaration of the Bible: "you can all prophesy" - see I Corinthians 12-14)

Action:
This is the name of a person who seems to be close to God that I can talk to and share what I am hearing as I draw close to God:


Step Three - "Prophesy to the bones" - and don't pull back from words that are so impossible that only God could make it happen. The bones were very dry that day, scattered in a valley - they rattled when God started to work with them :) Even when re-corpsed (is that a word?) they had no life in them. Ezekiel had to keep prophesying - and we have to too. It is not "all at once" very often...most of what God does is process-and-time stuff, because He wants always to use what He does to bring growth in us - and WE - not He - need the process and time.

Action:
Here is what I think God would say to the bones in my valley:


Now read thoughtfully 37:7-14.

May you and I be part of God's "vast army" and may He speak through us in this new year.

Selah.

Dave