The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ” (Ezekiel 37:1-5 NIV)
Have you ever felt as though you were like those dry bones? Have you ever felt like the people of Israel did, when they said, “‘our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’” (vs. 11)
I have.
Just as those bones were lifeless, we can become lifeless as well. There are things that we can experience, which cause us to feel as though the very life, hope and essence of who we are is gone.
In those times, we need the Holy Spirit of God to breathe new life into us, as He did for these dry bones.
There have been many instances when the Holy Spirit has done this for me, but one in particular comes to mind. In 2003, Bruce and I were faced with a situation in our faith community, which required us to take a stand for what we believe in. Like a number of others at the time, we felt the need to cease worshipping in that church. It began with Scriptural differences of opinion with leadership, but the situation became much more entangled as time went by.
At the time of our departure from there, both of us were actively involved in the church community’s life. Many of our friends were there, and much of our social life was centered on those relationships. In hindsight, I realize that much of my sense of value was wrapped up in my life in my church. Leaving all of those things behind, brought me to a place of spiritual and emotional dryness, which was a season of life that lasted several years.
In the same period of time, my physical condition was deteriorating, and eventually led to major surgery. Not an ideal time to be without regular fellowship with other believers, or regular Pastoral Care.
I could have never imagined what God had planned for me through that part of my journey. While going through this difficult personal health crises without my normal support system, I found the strength and hope through the One who is my ultimate source of all that I need. I learned to depend on God in a whole new way, and through that, I developed an intimacy with Him in prayer that I hadn’t had. As I spent more time with Him through prayer and reading His Word, He infused life into me through His Holy Spirit. He didn’t keep me out of “the valley of dry bones,” but He met me right there in the middle of it, and used that experience to lead me to deeper relationship with Him.
In vs. 11, the people of Israel said, “‘our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’” After that, in verse 12, God speaks to them through Ezekiel, “Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.”
For Bruce and I, that has meant that since our time in “the valley of dry bones,” we’ve become part of a body of believers who stand for faithfulness to God’s Word. We helped start up our Home Parish, I’ve published a book, and founded a ministry. Bruce has heard God’s Call to ordained ministry, and he is part of the leadership team of the ministry I founded. As part of Bruce’s path toward Ordination, our Bishop has placed us “On Assignment” within another parish of the Anglican Network in Canada. As we remain committed to following the Holy Spirit’s leading, we continue to be blessed, however and wherever He may lead.
As He said He would do, He has brought us from the place of lifelessness, back to life. He can and will do the same for you, as you follow His leading in your own life – even if that means going to a place of dryness for a season. He will be faithful to bring you out of it, AND He will breathe new life back into you after the dryness.
My prayer is, “Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing me to my own personal “valley of dry bones.” Thank you for delivering me from it. Please help me to continue on my journey through life, wherever You may lead, with my hand firmly holding on to Yours. Please help me to learn the lessons that you want me to learn in those dry places, which will eventually lead to my health and wholeness. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.”
