Thus saith the Lord …
The dry bones of your soul must resurrect.
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Everyone ignores bones because nothing more can be expected from them. At some point, there was life and potential in them, but there is nothing else now. For us, what is dead no longer has a chance, and we discard it. No matter what this is, we bury it and move on with our lives. So when God asked the prophet if the bones would live, Ezekiel replied: “Lord, you know.”
But for the Lord, things look very different. What are dry bones to us, to Him is a potential army. And what we bury in our life, for Him is a sown seed. In his hands, what was discarded has a second chance; and what we gave up for dead has a new life.
We often ignore our spiritual and emotional condition in the same way that dry bones are ignored. If we don’t like what we see, we cover it with dirt and continue on our way. We have no problem declaring like the people of Israel: “Our bones are withered, and our hope perished, we are utterly destroyed.” (V.11)
It does not matter what our soul has been able to harbor: dreams, hope, potential, plans, promises, or expectations; if we believe that it has died, we bury it and try to move on with our “life” despite feeling dead inside. We continue with our routine ignoring our state because nothing can be done with something that’s dead. Like Martha and Mary when they lost Lazarus, even when Jesus arrives we say: “He’s been dead for four days.” (John 11); we bury our hope along with our dream.
However, the Lord’s plans do not change; and when the time is right, we hear the voice of the Lord prophesying to those very bones that we had already cast away. Then a roar resounds in our soul as the dry bones of our soul respond to the Lord’s call and begin to bond with one another. We wonder what is happening; but it only happens that what everyone, including ourselves, ignores due to lack of life, has never been forgotten by the Lord.
When the appointed time has come, that which was buried to die must germinate like a seed and fulfill its purpose. Broken dreams are restored, hope is resurrected and turns to faith, hidden potential is revealed, forgotten plans return to the agenda, promises are reaffirmed, and our expectations must change. When the Spirit of God breathes life into our souls, everything there must rise.
Israel was in a desperate position because they had been through so much that they thought God had forgotten them and rejected them as His people. So their hope had died, and their bones had dried up in consequence; they did not expect to be rescued from their deadly state. Israel had buried their hope.
It was right at that moment that the Word of the Lord came. Calling them His people, indicating that at no time did he abandon them and certainly had not discarded them. He stood firm in his promises to them, he was still their Lord and God, and his covenant with them was eternal. His promises remained over their lives and the time of fulfillment had come.
No matter what you have buried in your life because you think it has died, the Lord can raise it again and give it a new life. No matter what you are waiting for, don’t let your hope die, but let God strengthen it and turn it into faith. God is a God of covenants and never breaks his promises. So, no matter what has happened, it’s still not too late for God.
Those bones are not so dry that God cannot breathe new life into them, and you are not so far from God’s mercy that you cannot be reached. If you can believe, He will turn the valley of your soul into a garden brimming with life, give new strength to your hopes, resurrect your dreams and turn the dry land into a fountain of life to show everyone around you that He is God and His covenants never end.