Bones

I'm not a big fan of the various versions of CSI or the more recent version of detective stories, "Bones."

I just don't enjoy seeing dismembered parts of people's bodies, even if I do realize that it's all special effects. By the time these investigators reach the scene of a crime, there is no doubt as to whether the person is dead or not. The only question they have to answer is who did it. Being the squeamish person I am, I wonder if there's a way for them to do that without all the blood, guts and bones.


That's why I cringed when I opened up my Bible for my daily reading and saw the heading, "Dry Bones." I'm not sure I would have been very excited had I been Ezekiel in the day when he found himself suddenly in the middle of a valley filled with bones. Just a little creepy if you ask me. And somehow he thinks it's important to note that the bones were very dry. These people could not have been more dead. I'm already having just a few hairs standing on end as I'm imagining this, but then I realize that this story is about my life and a real chill goes down my spine.


There are places in my heart that are dead - dry bones dead. I've put God on the back burner and gotten busy with other things, not watering my soul and as a result, there's a parched valley in my heart. I look around my community and I wonder if God sees a lot of dry bones around here. Oh sure, we look like we're alive as we chat about this and that, but deep down, we're void of real, true life. We're dry bones.


You see, when Ezekiel was smack dab in the middle of those piles of bones, his people, the Israelites, were right in the middle of their driest season ever. They had left God out of the equation for so long that other gods had taken prominence in their lives and as a result, they had lost their homeland. They were not only living separated from God, but they were also separated from their homes and everything that meant a normal "life" to them. They were void of all life - emotional, spiritual and physical.


But God had a message of hope to them even in their driest moment - when they could not have been more dead.

"Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are
dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to
them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open
your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of
Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your
graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will
live..." Ezekiel 37:11-14

So, God breathed on that valley of dry bones and they started to rattle and grow tendons and flesh and skin, turning into an army while Ezekiel watched. Now the chills had to be going down Ezekiel's spine. Bones growing flesh and coming to life right in front of your eyes - not exactly an everyday occurrence.

But then again, it's not exactly an everyday occurance for us to get new life either. God breathes and our dead places become alive, the dryness is replaced with muscles and flesh, the emptyness is filled with life.

Oh God, breathe new life on me, refresh my parched and weary soul. Breathe onto this community too and cause a revival in our dry land. We so desperately need life and only You can give it.

(Image of Death Valley, California...as dry as it gets!)