RELIEF FOR DRY BONES

Ezekiel 37:1-38:23; James 1:19-2:17; Psalm 117:1-12; Proverbs 28:1

“Then he asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones become living people again?’ ‘O Sovereign Lord,’ I replied, ‘you alone know the answer to that.’ Then he said to me, ‘Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’ So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.”’ So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.”

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

“Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For he loves us with unfailing love; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!”

“The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.”

This is the time in Texas when everything starts to wither away from lack of moisture. The bushes sag; grass crackles underfoot; lakes dry up; and the wild animals suffer. Even people, try as we might to avoid doing so, seem to wither away a bit in the 105^o heat. It is too hot to be outdoors. Most of us take shelter in our air conditioned homes and/or offices. We drink iced tea and sit in front of fans. We seek sanctuary in pools and whatever rivers, lakes and seaside areas we can access. Still, the heat and sun drain us. We bewail and bemoan our misfortune and wish fervently for rain, thinking nothing could be worse that the drought. Boy, have we got that wrong! There are a lot worse things than drying out. Like dying, for instance.

I do not pretend to know what Ezekiel really saw when he ventured into the valley of dry bones, but it would not surprise me to learn it was a Christian congregation that tried to get by for too long without the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Maybe they put too much stress on numbers or being a place where the up and coming gathered to take notice and be noticed. Perhaps they just had one too many stewardship campaigns. Or possibly, they put too much faith in each other and not enough faith in the Holy Spirit. Whatever those bones had been before, given what they had been through, they were clearly used up, dried up and rendered worthless and disjointed by the time Ezekiel found them.

They were worthless and disjointed, that is, until the Lord God Almighty Himself put them back together again, put new flesh and muscles on them and had the wind breathe new life into them. Suddenly, as one, the bones arose as a mighty army. It would’ve been pretty interesting to watch Ezekiel’s face run the gamut of emotions from outright disbelief to awestruck acceptance. But most important, had we been there, would have been to have grasped the message the Lord was attempting to convey through the process that day.

Ezekiel understood and accepted what most of us spend a lifetime fighting and denying. We live at the Father’s gracious pleasure, but we shrivel up and die for any number of reasons – and sometimes, for no particular reason at all – as soon as we become separated from the Source of all life. All of us need to be refreshed from time to time, whether we admit it to ourselves or others or not. We simply do not have the strength or the capacity to continuously fade the heat in our own power. We need help. We need protection. Those foolish enough to push the Creator away are destined to burn. So the key, of course, is not to become disconnected in the first place.

How does one manage that? This is where Christian works prove that our faith is not dead. We become doers of the Word, and not just hearers. We test the Spirit (and in the process, learn He is fully worthy of our trust) by actually training ourselves to rely on His leadership and inspiration in our lives. We do not take too much on ourselves, but leave the Son an open invitation to join us in our endeavors. And sometimes, we do this first of all by resting, and letting the Spirit prepare us, instead of getting all worked up for Jesus by trying to prepare ourselves for what we think He has in store for us.

It is significant, I suspect, how often this theme of rest has come up in this year long journey. More important is how we tend to fear the idea of rest. Four weeks ago, I did something I have never done in my life, and never thought I would do. I took a four week summer break from teaching my beloved Sunday class of young adults. I had always before feared that long a break could be terminal. We could lose our spiritual momentum and along with it, our members. But this year, Jesus did not so much invite me to take time off as require it, and I, for once, was obedient in doing so. Immediately, two weekends were swallowed up in the trial discussed earlier in this tome. Who knew? Apparently, the Lord had a plan all along. The remaining weekends were spent in guilt free recreation and relaxation. Aside from this blog, I was intentional about letting up on the spiritual study and work. [Gasp!] We had our family reunion and got reconnected. I also spent some completely secular time just doing things that had waited too long to be done.

What I learned was this: sometimes, God lives best in us when we quit trying to force things and just let Him come to us as He will. I found Him in some very unexpected places. He was there with my son and his wife as we lounged by the pool at our Galveston hotel. He was working with me as we fixed some things around the house. He was in my daughter’s eyes during our “dinner-and-a-movie” date last night. And He was in the sound of my wife’s voice when she called me to touch base from her mission trip in Guatemala. Perhaps – almost certainly – the Lord would have been in those places and circumstances regardless of my personal situation. But it is not insignificant that I was able to see Him and celebrate His presence just because I was relaxed enough not to force things.

For anyone feeling as dried out and disjointed as those bones in ol’ Ezekiel’s valley, here’s a word: Rejoice! Living Water flows! It is probably flowing right beside you, too. Don’t be afraid to take time to unplug and dangle your feet in the cool water of grace, or just praise the Giver of all good gifts for all and who He is. It’s a great way to stay refreshed!