Only You God

The other day I remarked to my wife that I had never broken a bone and the only time that I needed crutches was over 45 years ago when I asked her on our first date – to a dance. I’ve done pretty well protecting the bones in my body, especially considering that at least half of the population has broken at least one bone. My father wins the prize, though. He’s over 95 and never broke a bone, even during his 20-year career with the U.S. Army which included tours of duty in Korea and Vietnam.

This reminiscing got me thinking about a song from my childhood – The “Dry Bones” song. You may remember the lyrics …

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the heel bone
Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
Ankle bone connected to the shin bone

The song, written by African American author and composer James Weldon Johnson some time before 1928, is based on the “dry bones” story in Ezekiel 37. Sometimes I wonder if there is a very long version of the song that connects all 206 bones in the body.

Picture it

A desolate valley filled with dry, sun-bleached bones. The valley is silent. Dead silent. The bones are lifeless. Fast forward 10, 20, 50, or even 100 years and the bones would still be lifeless. As amazing as modern science is, it can do nothing for the dead bones. They will never move again.

Or will they?

As Christians, we unintentionally limit God’s powers by what we do. Sarah, wife of the patriarch Abraham laughed when God said she would have a child the following year – at age 90! God reminded Sarah and Abraham, ” Is anything too hard for the LORD? ” (Genesis 18:12-14).

Dry Bones

In a vision, God brought Ezekiel to this valley filled with bones. The dry bones were a picture of the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. Israel had chased after false gods and paid lip service to God. They had ignored repeated warnings from the prophets and now they were in exile in Babylon, slaves far from their homes in the Promised Land. The Israelite exiles were physically alive but spiritually dead. They had no power to correct their hopeless situation and return home. Their false gods were just bits of metal, stone, or wood fashioned by human hands. As a church musical my children were in years ago said, “you might as well pray to a ‘Baal’ of hay”. Like the bones, the Israelites could not restore themselves.

God asked His prophet whether the dry bones could come to life. Ezekiel rightly answered, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know” (37:3). Left to their own devices, the bones would remain lifeless. Only God had the authority and the power to breathe life back into the dead bones. And only God could restore the nation of Israel to the glory it had during the reign of King David.

Ezekiel prophesied

…and a rattling started. I imagine that in a short time, it got very loud in the valley with all of the bones coming together. Soon the bones were covered with skin. Now they looked like people, but they were still dead. Ezekiel prophesied again and God breathed life into the dead bodies.  Dead men came to life again, much like God breathed life into Adam during the Creation story.

To return home, Israel needed to repent, abandon the false gods of the surrounding nations, and return to God. Nothing else would work. They could not do it themselves. Israel needed to learn that only God loved them enough to rescue them from their current situation and He would restore them to their former glory if they repented of their sins and returned to Him.

Life gets messy

While we don’t worship false idols made of metal or wood, we too chase after “things” to achieve happiness: wealth, power, drugs, sex, acclaim, youth.  But those things, our false idols, don’t last. Our bodies start to fall apart. A stock market collapse erases our savings. Drugs ravage our bodies. A recession significantly decreases the value of our home. And we’re laid off from our job. Life gets messy when we try to be in charge of our destiny.

I didn’t intentionally move away from God. Instead, I took my eyes off of God, focused on something worldly and got caught up in the day-to-day of life: work, family, health, friends, and the gym (Who am I fooling? No gym). We stopped reading the Bible, became too busy to go to church except at Christmas and Easter, and only prayed in situations where we couldn’t solve the problem ourselves. Christians simply drift away and soon God was only a small part of our lives.

We didn’t need God, except when we did. Like the nation of Israel, we were spiritually dead and disconnected from God. Our life, like the Israelites and the dead bones, seemed hopeless.

Does this sound like you?

If so, remember that God has the power to revive your spiritually dead body and bring new life to your weary soul. Like the dead bones, you cannot do it yourself. Nothing on this Earth can. It takes God, through his Son Jesus, to bring spiritually dead people, like you and like me, back to life. And because He loves you beyond measure, He will restore you too if you ask Him.

As you consider the story of the dry bones, reflect on the areas where you need God to bring spiritual healing into your life. Pray that the One that breathed life into dead bones would draw you back to Him. Ask Him to renew and restore your weary soul through His Son Jesus. You cannot do it yourself, but God can. And He will!

And remember the last words of the “The Dry Bones” song – “Now hear the word of the Lord.” When God speaks, we would do well to listen and obey.

Pray with me today:

Lord, breathe Your Life into me as only You can. Renew me. Restore the joy of my salvation. Make me live again! Amen