Valley of Dry Bones

I've been going through a writing dry spell lately. I want to write, need to write, but have a hard time just starting it. I also have too much going on in my head to focus enough to write clear. So I am gathering tidbits already for a Friday Fragment. Maybe I can purge and refresh at that point. In the meantime...

My morning Bible time is currently spent in a chronological Bible. I love it. Reading the prophets' messages from the Lord then having it matched up with the events from Kings and Chronicles makes sense and the whole story comes together seamlessly. Well, this morning I got to read again one of my favorite prophet passages in Ezekiel 37...the valley of dry bones.

Remember "The Mummy movies" (with that adorable Brandon Frasier that certainly has permission to rescue me any day from impending doom...but I digress)? Throughout the whole movie, the mummy regenerates. The bones come together, then the muscles and ligaments, some skin, and it finishes up as a whole evil person that is bent on taking over the world. Well, in Ezekiel (during the exile period of Isreal's history), the Lord takes Ezekiel to this valley filled with nothing but very dry bones and asks him, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Now, if God asked me a question like that, I would try my best to not be disrespectful in my tone, but reply, "are you kidding me?" Ezekiel's answer, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know." What a wise answer!

From there the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! (notice the exclamation point) 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 I am the Lord."

So Ezekiel prophesies as he was commanded. And in his own words: "as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them."

Imagine that sight! Reliving those Mummy movie clips yet?

Then the Lord said to Ezekiel, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, "'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" So Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet - a vast army. Can you picture the impact of the wind from all four directions on those empty shells of bodies? There's no magical dust like in Beauty and the Beast when the Beast is turned back into the prince, but there is still that impact of life anew!

This is one of my favorite passages to read, for one because it's just beyond cool, and two, because it's proof for me that even if I perceive something to be dead and dried up (like my dreams in life), God can bring them back to life.

Grace & peace, y'all!