Scripture Daily

Context No. 3478 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 37:1-6: in context

1The LORD’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in the LORD’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord GOD, you know.” 4Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear the LORD’s word. 5The Lord GOD says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. 6I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”’”

God sets Ezekiel down in a valley full of dry bones, a picture of a people who felt utterly dead, their hope gone, cut off with no future. And he asks a searching question: son of man, can these bones live? Ezekiel's answer is a model of humble faith: O Lord GOD, you know.

He does not say yes, presuming on God, nor no, limiting God; he simply hands the question back to the One who alone can answer it. And God's answer is that he will breathe life into these dry bones and raise them up, putting sinews and flesh and breath upon them until they live. Where there is no natural hope of life, no possibility we can see, God is able to bring life. To the exiles this promised the restoration of a nation that seemed dead; to us it speaks of resurrection, and of God's power to bring new life into whatever in us seems dead and dried up beyond reviving. When something is beyond all human hope, the answer to can these bones live? is: with God, yes.

When something in my life or hope seems as dead as dry bones, do I trust the God who can breathe life into what seems beyond all reviving?

Sources