“… They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.” (Ezekiel 37:11b)
God gave Ezekiel a vision depicting the condition of Israelites. The Spirit of the Lord set him down in the midst of the valley; and the valley was full of very dry bones. God posed a question to Ezekiel – “Son of man, can these bones live?”
Israel was a defeated nation. It had been crushed militarily, its people had been separated from one another in exile, and they had suffered the inevitable result of its abandonment of the Lord. Alone, exhausted, discouraged, and impoverished, Israel was indeed good as dead! The hope of restoration from a human point of view was impossible.
Against this background, God asks Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” Though everything around him was dead, Ezekiel exercised his faith and prophesied. God did not ask Ezekiel to prophesy that the bones should live but that they should hear the word of the Lord. As Ezekiel exercised his faith and prophesied there was a noise and rattling. God’s word and His Spirit made the dead and dry bones alive into a great army.
God’s word has the power to bring dead situations alive!
Mary and Martha from Bethany were facing a dead situation one day. Their dear brother had been dead for four days. Though they had sent word to Jesus, He was nowhere in sight. As time passed by, hope faded. Suddenly, Jesus walks into the scene. Then in a series of dramatic events, the dead Lazarus responds to Jesus’ voice and comes alive. Jesus’ presence and his words brought dead Lazarus back to life!
We all face dry and possibly dead situations in our life. A dead dream; a dead opportunity; a dead relationship; a dead spiritual life… the list can go on. But as Ezekiel prophesied, things started changing. Prophesying to a dead situation requires extraordinary faith and trust in God. But only when we put our faith into action, situations will change. God’s word has the power to bring dead situations to life.
Declaring God’s word to dead situations require faith!
Dry bones and dead situations are not an end but an opportunity for us to exercise our faith in God. So, go ahead and declare God’s word to the dead situation and see His word breathe life!