The Valley's Not Such a Bad Place

The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 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.”

Today's lesson comes from Ezekiel chapter 37. God has asked Ezekiel the a question, obviously more concerned with his education than receiving a correct answer. Moving on...

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.’”

God reveals the secret of His restorative order: Speak what God is saying in order to release His power. As Jesus said, "...I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me." (John 8:28b)

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.

Ezekiel speaks the words that God gave him, and God's miracle working power is released. The bones join and are covered with flesh and skin. His work done, the prophet can return to... Hey, wait a minute. Ezekiel obeyed, a miracle happened, and yet the end result was a pile of dead bodies, not much better than a pile of bones. What's going on here?

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.

Now it's done. The valley of bones has made the full transition from death to life. Why did this take two different acts of God, and two prophetic words from Ezekiel?

I think a look at the imagery will be helpful. The first prophesy was to the bones, which would represent something natural or fleshly. The second was to the wind, representing that which is supernatural. The bodies, with their natural response of growing flesh, became the appearance of life; the wind released the breath of life. The bodies were a potential army, but the living bodies were an effective army.

It seems to me that one of the purposes of God for this vision was to give Ezekiel authority both on the earth and in the spirit realm. As it says in Psalm 8:4-6:

"What are people that you should think of them, mere mortals that you should care for them? Yet you made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority."

I can't say I understand the full wisdom of God in all this, but I do know it's awesome and I want to be an active part of what He's doing!

Favor

As we go back to work after the holiday weekend, my verse to meditate on is Proverbs 22:29:

Do you see any truly competent workers?
They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people.

Happy Friday!

I'm a very pragmatic person, so this is difficult for me -- however I've come to realize that vision is an absolutely essential quality of the vibrant Christian walk. If we can't see our world through God's eyes, we're stuck with satan's vision, and it isn't encouraging. How we perceive our circumstances dictates our response to them. That's why the Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law."

On to one of my favorite portions of scripture that I've discovered this year, in Psalm 77:19-20:

Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters — a pathway no one knew was there!

You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

The reality of this situation is that God had known His people before the earth's creation, and out of His love for them he prepared a road for them to cross on the floor of the Red Sea. (Perhaps this was part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit as he hovered over the surface of the waters in the beginning!)

The people's perception was that God had forsaken them to be slaughtered by the Egyptians. Because they could not see God's salvation, they did not believe it and began to despair. Fortunately, God had anticipated this and had given them Moses and Aaron to exercise their faith in His goodness and unveil the escape route.

And the single most important lesson? Even though most of the people lost all hope of survival, a few trusted God -- and God used them to bring every man, woman and child across in safety.

What a plan. What a great God we serve.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Happy Birthday, Mama Lily!