Can These Bones Live? – Grace Reyes
“And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?
So, I answered. “O Lord God you know.”
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Ezekiel looking out upon the valley that stretched before him, answered the question from the Lord with full acknowledgement that with natural eyes all he can see before him are dry bones, this meant that they were beyond hope, there seemed to be no way to bring them back to life. Ezekiel knew God, had the confidence that God knew the answer to his own question, he deliberately leaves the matter with God’s power and wisdom.
The Lord gives Ezekiel the mandate to prophesy to the vast amount of dry bones strewn in the valley (Ezekiel 37:4). What is the mandate God has given us? We are to look out to the vastness of dry bones in our world and speak life into them. Let us breath God’s message into their dead places. There are times that I have to take this statement head on and prophesy to the dead areas in my life and command them to rise up in faith and live!
“If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. If we want conversions, we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons; even if we paraphrase it into our own words, it must still be his Word upon which we place our reliance, for the only power which will bless men lies in that.” (Spurgeon)
In order to be able to speak out the message of hope and healing in this dark time we are all facing, we have to believe (like the prophet Ezekiel) that God is really in control and He has supernatural power. The Lord asked Ezekiel whether the bones could live. What do you think the Lord is waiting for us to believe during these tough times we are facing? Can you look at the challenges you are now facing, and believe God for good outcomes? Are you able to answer with faith or are you paralyzed by fear?
The Lord commands us to speak to our situations with the same confidence that Ezekiel felt. “O Lord God you know.” In other words, I believe that you can do anything. The breath of life belongs to you. In vs. 5 the Lord tells him to say, “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.” Then God says in vs. 6 “then you shall know that I am the Lord.”
The bones could never create the life within themselves. Just as without the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God’s word we can’t live in Spirit and Truth. Gods breath of life creates restoration and healing in us. We worship Him because he has healed and delivered us from death.
This becomes the work of revival; the restoration of life into places that had once been dead. Hope was alive before COVID-19 reared is destructive head. We seemed to be going along fine, working, traveling, learning, shopping and fellowshipping in our churches and homes. What was God thinking as he looked down from heaven and saw perhaps many dry bones that needed a spiritual revival. He has shaken us to our cores and made us look at the dry areas of our spiritual lives.
Perhaps he saw some flickers of hope and light in the darkness of the land but not nearly enough. God is looking for an Acts chapter 2 type of revival in His people. He is looking for real revival. Through our inability to congregate in the churches sanctuary we have had to become the church. Instead of relying on a bible study once a week, we have formed our own in our homes and have congregated using technology to share the word with one another.
Now a days we are led by God in many areas we had left Him out. We worship Him not because we are being seen by others, but because we crave His presence. We are learning to lean on one another as well as on Him. The pandemic that has left us with so many dry bones exposed, our sorrows at the loss of loved ones, financial hardships and fear are all waiting for us to speak life to our families and communities. Like Ezekiel, to believe that this mighty God we serve is more than able to restore all our dry areas and give us back more than we have lost.
SPEAK TO YOUR DRY BONES! SPEAK LIFE