By David ReayTuesday 31 Mar 2015LifeWords DevotionalsCultureReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Ezekiel 37:1-6
1 The Lord took hold of me,and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me,”Son of man,can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied,”you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he said to me,”Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say,’Dry bones,listen to the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you,and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'” (NLT)
It is always much easier to talk about God than talk with him or to him. It is all too easy to discuss the Bible than obey it. Much more common to have debates about the role of the Holy Spirit in one’s life than actually let him run free in one’s life. In fact,it is rather easier to write Bible devotions so that others might benefit than to actually apply them to oneself!
Our text today speaks of dry bones,a vivid picture of a lifeless landscape. It can be a picture of our own lives with God. We know a fair bit about him and are actually involved in his work. We are saddened by others’ rejection of God without necessarily warmly embracing that same God. We can become professional Christians,bare-bone Christians.
The Spirit of God has been domesticated,caged. He no longer runs free and so our lives can shrivel into a sort of pseudo-spirituality. We talk the talk but walking the walk is another matter. The warm and living flesh has gone and what remains is a skeletal sort of belief.
The good news is that if this applies to you,it is not the last word. Our God promises to breathe life into us. Our destiny is not to be dry bones. God waits for our invitation to set the Spirit free and put flesh on the bones,to bring passion into our faith,to supplement our discussion about God with a desire for God.
Blessings
David Reay