Can These Bones Live Again?

Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Riots, Wars, Diseases, Ozone Depletion, Taxes, the Economy, Genocide, Crime, Poverty....And that's just what I heard on the news today (and I only listened for a few minutes).

It's enough to make you depressed even if you're not dealing directly with these issues.  In fact, it put me in a pretty cranky mood.  It makes me wonder, sometimes, why we even try to fix things.  We vote in politicians who don't keep their promises, we send aid for one natural disaster only to have a worse one come along.  We enter wars to say that we're doing it for "humanitarian" reasons (yeah, think of that irony).  Is there ever an end?  Is there even hope?

Then I was reminded about Ezekiel.  He was looking at the center of his life, Jerusalem, and more so, the Temple that had been destroyed.  He had to be hopeless.  He had to be depressed.  He had to wonder, "why even try?"

Then, God brought him to a pile of bones....not exactly the cheeriest place to be...who wants to be surrounded by dead bodies? or dead bones?

And God asked Ezekiel if these bones could live.  How could Ezekiel know?  He saw so much destruction, how could he say "yes" when all signs pointed to "no."  But, how could he say "no" when he was talking to God?  So, Ezekiel gave probably the safest answer possible..."Only you know, God."

But it wasn't God who was going to do all the work.  Ezekiel had to prophesy life into these bones.  Ezekiel had to keep trying to make things better.

In the words of Ezekiel 7:7-10:  "So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude."


So, can our dry bones live?  Can we change the world?  Can we make the world a better place?  I'm no Ezekiel, but I am a Child of God.  And not just any God, but the Living God.  


Even after Ezekiel prophesied the bones to life, trouble didn't stop.  But, one problem was fixed.  Just like Ezekiel, we can't save the world, but we can save some things.  We need to remember to follow God's leading.  We need to remember that hope is NEVER dead.  We need to remember that we are part of a creation that is loved by its Creator!