The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” Ezekiel 37:1-6
Dear heavenly Father, I would do well to meditate on this portion of your Word once a month… no, make that at least once a week. For it “calls out” my unbelief… it confronts my complacency… it deconstructs every excuse I would offer for why I should give up in difficult situations and on difficult people (as though I’m not one of them).
Father, I’m aware of so many churches… marriages… and individual hearts that have become piles of dry breath-less bones. Vibrant green has become ashen grey… the music hasn’t faded, it’s gone. Selflessness has been supplanted with spite… desire got overgrown with weeds of disconnect, distrust, despair… and now, despisal.
But it’s not Ezekiel who asks about the possibility of renewal… revivification… refreshment… redemption… restoration, it’s you, Father… it’s YOU. “Can these bones live?” you ask, “these very dry bones?” The question is rhetorical, for you are the God of resurrection! I’ll not presume on the process, but I’ll trust in your promises.
Most holy and loving Father, unto the end that we might know you are the LORD, I’m asking today for you to breathe on the near and already bone-dry marriages of a few dear friends. Where there is no hope or desire, spouse to spouse… bring a fresh outpouring of affection from and for the great Spouse, Jesus.
What but the love of Jesus can transform stubborn hearts into supple hearts… can replace mean with mercy… can supplant self-protective willfulness with gospel-willingness? Who but Jesus can transform cold antipathy into kind-hearted intimacy? Those are my rhetorical questions, Father, for I know of no other hope for cold marriages, dead churches, or hard hearts but Jesus and his great love lavished on us in the gospel.
Indeed, Jesus, you are the resurrection and life. Today as I pray for these marriages, churches and friends… and myself… I’m not going to be preoccupied with looking at dry bones, but with you… a living Savior. Bring life, your life, to the places of death. Restore to all of us the joy of your salvation… the hope of your resurrection… and a passion for your glory above everything else, including our own happiness. So very Amen, I pray, in the tender mercies of your name.
