The Valley Of Dry Bones...

Why always a valley.....?!

Does anyone else find it interesting how our biggest life challenges come when we are walking in a valley?  Shadows of death! Skeletons or dry bones! And not to mention where Samson met Delilah - his ultimate stumbling block (Judges 16:4). 

Let me share what I have learned through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 37!

So basically our Father took Ezekiel for a walk through a valley (sound familiar), a valley filled with dry bones covering the whole valley floor, the Lord was showing Ezekiel mans desperation. There before him was a valley of hopelessness, no life could be found.

I really like verse 3 - God asks Ezekiel if these bones can become living people again, and I can almost hear Ezekiel's reply - "How am I supposed to know that.. only you know those sorts of things O Sovereign Lord.." lol, I am sure it wasn't that disrespectful, but here is where I see an open relationship happening between God and man, where man can talk back to God with an honest 'I dunno' sort of answer.

God commands Ezekiel to speak life into the bones by prophesying over them, stating what will be..

When Ezekiel is told to prophesy, he is meant to speak God's quickening life into them - or simply put, speak into them. A Paster explained that this is just like praying 'life giving scripture' over death and hopeless situations.

Verse 7, Ezekiel does as he is commanded and sees death change to life before His very eyes! (Oh to be a fly on a rock there!)

There are so many lessons for us here, I feel I have only just touched the surface.

Lesson 1: These bones represent the people of Israel - the people of God, could this be true of us? 

Are we dry bones? 

With Gods power and Gods words, He brings structure. No-one wants a foot growing out the side of their head or a toe growing on their nose! 

Every bone has a joint to fit and a function. That is us! He has a RIGHT place for us. He purposed for us to exist and put us exactly where He wants us..WOW - we are where we are meant to be otherwise we would hear a rattling noise while He moves us to the next part of our journey (Verse 7).

 Lesson 2: When you look at situations in life, they may look like a mess, it may seem hopeless and irreparable. However, we shouldn't set our heart and thoughts on what we see, but believe in the unseen - what it could become with the power of God working in it.. then pray exactly the way Ezekiel prayed - with confidence, truth and action. Life is full of ups and downs. We need to pray over these hopeless situations - prophesy into our own lives and the lives of others. Don't give up, just trust in the power of the spoken word of God and the power of Christ.

Lesson 3: If an arm doesn't want to connect to the body, then the whole skeleton is affected and the process of life can stop. Best for us to encourage that arm to get connected any way we can. It is important that we all function the way God intended for us, otherwise the whole body suffers and no life force can be fed into that arm, essentially causing it to die. Only when we are connected to the body can we be strengthened and functional for the Lord. Ez 37:19 God joins us together with ligaments and sinew (ties that cannot be broken) and He strengthens us - He makes us 'one in His hand', and covers us in flesh to protect us (wrapped under His wing).. we are covered by our God.
Don't rebel against His will, it is a well thought out plan designed individually just for you. Sure, tell the Lord what you think about it, but come in under His Loving guidance and all will be well with your soul. Each person's journey is different, but the Lord saw our face before we were even born, He put together our life's path and set aside time to walk with us (In the cool of the evenings as in Genesis 3:8).

The world tries so hard to distort the plan put in place by God, they do it without even realising. The opinions, the criticisms, the well meaning advice from others.. really all we need is to cling to the word and be in constant fellowship with the Lord - from the minute we rise up in the morning, to when we lay our head on the pillow, be in fellowship with God walking through the valley just as Ezekiel did (and many others).

Lesson 4: A skeleton alone is not a body, God adds the substance. We need to allow God to add substance to us. When He made Adam he gave him mature organs, mature bones. Adam did not go through a process of growing. God created him for a relationship so He made him mature. Maturity is a process. Before any process comes an event. 

A wedding is an event, but the marriage is the process. 

A baby is an event, but raising a child is the process. 

Counselling is an event, but putting the advice into action is a process.

Salvation is an event, but living out our relationship with Christ is a process. God calls us to the event, but it is our responsibility to walk out the process and just to help He walks it with us, every step of the way (if we let Him).

I have really enjoyed looking at these passages, very applicable to our lives today. Know that you are very important to the Body.. He gifted you to carry out a function - you have a RIGHT place. The valley is a tough place to walk, but you are not alone.. there are many of us on this same path and He is holding our hand as we walk it. It could be in your family, in your job, with your friends.

May your cup be full to overflowing as you walk out your life in Christ.