Dry

"The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the plain, which was now filled with bones. He made me walk among them in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were! He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? "Lord GOD," I answered, "you alone know that." Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life. I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD. I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise; it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone. I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them. Then he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army. Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD." -Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ever get that nagging feeling? That feeling that there's just something wrong and you're not entirely sure how to deal with it? Ever feel like God just isn't listening? Like you're shouting and screaming and He simply doesn't hear you? Do you ever feel like you're just dried up? Ever get to the point where you feel like there's nothing else that you can do? Like you're sitting in the dust? If so, don't fear, it's biblical.

Ezekiel is led to the plains where the dry bones are scattered across the land, lifeless and dried up. Sometimes in the spiritual life, I just feel like dry bones, like there's no life, like I'm simply in the dust and without consolation or guidance from God. It makes me come to realize that I am from the dust, and to the dust I'll return. What if this was all meant to happen? What if God breaks and bends us and forces our faces into the gravel to remind us, "You can't do this without Me." Something that I'm considering and pondering in all of this is that God may need us to become in touch with our dry bones, with our desolation, with our empty hearts in order that He may give us flesh. That is, that He may let us see that our humanity is incomplete aside from His divinity. God alone gives us our very lives. We get this idea that God owes us something, that it's not right for us to be in the places of darkness and desolation. Guess what? He owes us nothing, and we owe Him everything. He removes His hand, He pushes us into the dirt and as we complain and grumble He calls us out:

Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?

Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

-Job 38:2-4

He is bigger than us, He knows greater than our limited capacity can comprehend. Maybe it's in the dryness that He can renew and refresh us to our greatest potential.

Maybe you identify more with Ezekiel himself. Perhaps you're at a place in your life with God that is going pretty well, that is engaging and uplifting and you're experiencing His voice and consolation on a consistent basis. How can you change the dry bones of those around you? A gift that is given to you is not meant for you, it is meant for you to share with the rest of us that feel more like the bones sitting in the dust. Breathe, speak, live the very words that God has etched into your soul. You hear His voice, you follow His will, that is how you prophesy and change the bones that surround you. He chooses to work through you because you're not always going to be Ezekiel, you're not always going to be at a place where you can minister and reach out and change lives, at some point or another you too will find yourself in the dust amongst the other bones.

Perhaps you identify more with Jacob. Maybe you need to wrestle with God in order to really gain any semblance of peace and harmony in your life. Maybe He needs to break your bones, your dry bones, in that wrestling in order to tear down your walls, your false gods, your sins and build up the you He knows you can be. He promises to His people just in chapter 36 of Ezekiel, "I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts." He sees you in the dust, or He recognizes your need to wrestle, or He just is there at your beckon call but no matter what He is always trying to accomplish within us one thing: making us more human. He is using whatever way He possibly can to break through to us, to make us listen and to help us see what true humanity is: loving Him first, and everyone else second. That's it. My bones are dry, but He will put new sinews, new flesh, new skin upon these dry bones, He will breathe His spirit into me and I will be made new. I know He will do this because, He promised, and if He promises, He'll do it.