Ezekiel 37 -- Hope From Hopelessness

Ezekiel finds himself transported by God to a valley filled with dried bones.  They weren’t like those left over from a freshly eaten steak or chicken, still tender themselves with marrow inside.  These bones had been exposed to the baking sun for years.  They were porous, dry, and brittle.  In modern day terms, no viable DNA could have been recovered from them.   They represented the hopelessness that the Israelites in exile felt.  They’d lost their nation, their land, their freedom, and even their identity.

God told Ezekiel to speak His words to the bones.  The word of God was so powerful that inanimate objects moved on their own accord in obedience to the Word, and as Ezekiel watched, the bones correctly assembled themselves, and sinew, tissue, and muscle developed.  Then skin covered them.  Where there’d been scattered dry bones, there now lay whole bodies, yet they did not yet live.  God then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath (or wind or Spirit) to breathe on those who had been killed and bring them back to life.  They rose and stood as a very large army. 

Seeing this, Ezekiel then heard God prophesy that the hopelessness which the Israelites felt at that time, with their country completely taken over by the Babylonians and much of their citizenry removed as prisoners of war, would be turned to hope.  God would RESTORE and BLESS them.  The divided nation would someday be reunited.  God said, “And I will put My Spirit inside you, and you will come to life.  Then I will put you in your own land.  And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it.”

Last night, a wildfire which had begun near Clairemont in Kent County, 50 miles northwest of here, burned all the way to Rotan (20 miles west of here) threatening the town and causing a mandatory evacuation.  During the night, the wind was blowing from the west, potentially allowing it to reach Hamlin.  Firefighters stopped it (at last report) a mile this side of the Rotan cemetery – about 17 miles away.  Before heading to bed, we’d watered the yard and wet down the roof, fences, and wooden siding.  We’d also packed clothing and important items in our vehicles for a quick escape, if needed.  As we prayed for protection, I began again to say those four important words, “I TRUST You, God!”  During the night His mighty hand protected us.  If God could accomplish what we would describe as “utterly impossible”, raising a mighty living, breathing army from dry bones, then certainly a wildfire is nothing to Him.  Yet more than that, we see the difference that the Word of God and the Spirit of God can make on a life destined for death, for His power is mighty, and His sovereignty cannot be defeated.

Father, use the crying-out of people last night for protection from the fire to stoke a fire within their souls.  Quicken them to You, Father, and lead them to embrace not simply what You did last night, but also what Your Son did nearly two millennia ago to give them life everlasting.  Draw them to You, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford