‘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. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ! He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord .’ ”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 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. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord , when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord .’ ”
Ezekiel 37:1-14 NIV

Y’all, I love this story. It is probably one of my favorite passages in the Bible and it is just so insane!

(Lauren Daigle has an amazing song about this called ‘Come Alive (Dry Bones)‘)

This story shares a beautiful and crazy image of skeletons lying in the middle of a valley, and Ezekiel is brought to this valley. It’s dry, it’s empty, and it’s quiet. There’s no sound of people talking, the sound of clothes rustling, not even the sound of people breathing. It’s abandoned.

But then God commands Ezekiel to speak to the bones, telling them to come alive.

And they do. Full human beings, skin, bones, organs, and muscle. But there’s one thing missing—

Breath. So God tells Ezekiel to command the winds and give these men breath.

And breath entered them. How crazy is that?!

This passage has two big lessons for me, and the first one is this:

Without God, we are empty shells, bare skeletons. It’s like in the Disney movie Coco (or any other animated movie with skeletons in it): the skeleton eats, and the food goes right through him.

Without God holding and sealing us together? Everything, all the good things, just go right through us. And in the end? We’re just left empty.

But with God, we are completely whole and full and no longer bare.

And as for the second lesson I’ve learned from Ezekiel 37:

Now, this passage reminds me of another passage, one much earlier in the Bible.

‘Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’ Genesis 2:7

God is creating life from dirt and from dry brittle bones. He did it then, he can do it now. And let’s not forget how many people he’s raised from the dead. (1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 4, 2 Kings 13, Luke 7, Luke 8, John 11, Matthew 27, Mark 16, Acts 9, Acts 20)

Whatever you are going through, God can turn it around. It’s not too late for him, not too little for him to work with, and not too much for him to be burdened with.

~Willow