Those Dried Up Bones

The story of Ezekiel in the valley with all those dried out bones is a warning for preachers! 

So often preachers want to build a sermon that is a finely crafted work of literary art.  And we want to preach to a congregation that can appreciate all the work that goes into that sermon.  We want to preach to a congregation that can appreciate all the literary nuances that we have carefully and creatively used to craft this wonderful piece of writing.  We want to preach to a congregation that will call us a great preacher!

Sometimes we forget that we are called to humbly bring the Word of God to people, whoever and wherever they may be.  Sometimes we forget that if anyone is moved by God’s Word through our sermons it’s because the Holy Spirit – the Advocate – has allowed God’s Word to touch their hearts through our human efforts. 

Ezekiel stood in the middle of a valley that has probably been the sight of some battle.  The dead were left where they fell, and by the time Ezekiel got there the bodies had been stripped down to bare bones.  And God told Ezekiel to preach to the bones. 

God told Ezekiel to preach to those bones!  Scripture tells us that Ezekiel had great faith in the Lord.  Ezekiel knew that he didn’t know the boundaries of God’s power.  I’m not sure if I would have been as confident in the Lord as was Ezekiel.  I might have looked at that collection of bones and thought – at least silently and to myself – that there was no way I could make those bones respond to my preaching.  I might have thought that the Lord was testing my powers as a preacher and it looked like a losing proposition to me. 

Well, the Lord was testing Ezekiel, but He wasn’t testing Ezekiel’s powers.  He was testing Ezekiel’s faith.  The Lord wasn’t asking Ezekiel to raise these bones back to life.  The Lord was asking Ezekiel to let the Lord use him to bring these bones back to life. 

I’m sure you all know the old saying, “The Lord helps those who help themselves.”  I’ve even heard an additional line that says, “And Lord help those who get caught helping themselves!”  Either way, I think we’ve got it all wrong.   What Scripture tells us is that the Lord helps those who help God help them.  The Lord provides the strength and the wisdom and the patience and the love that is necessary when we follow the will of the Lord!  

The people of Israel were in the midst of enslavement, carried away by one of their many conquerors.  They had been defeated, and, worse, they had become depressed, convinced that they had no future.  They forgot the promises of the Lord.  And Ezekiel had done everything he could think of to try and restore their faith and their confidence, but his efforts just didn’t work. 

And so the Lord led Ezekiel out into this valley and asked him whether or not those dried up bones could live again.  Ezekiel realized that only God held the answer to that question, and when God told him to preach this impossible sermon to this improbably congregation Ezekiel did as he was told. 

Ezekiel witnessed a miracle.  He knew that the miracle had nothing to do with his abilities as a preacher.  He knew that God was showing him that if he allowed God to use him then even the defeated people of Israel could again come alive.  God told Ezekiel to tell the people: “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live….”

This is the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives.  Pentecost has become the birthday of the Christian church.  God’s Spirit is here with us.  No matter how young or old we are, no matter how healthy, nor matter how alone we feel, no matter how hopeless we sometimes feel, God has said:  “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live….”

But sometimes we’re all like those preachers who think it’s all up to their own efforts.  If we open our hearts to the Spirit of God and let God help us, we will find extraordinary life here that will carry us unafraid into our lives with God throughout eternity.

Paul said, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through the Spirit which dwells in you." God is faithful and his breath gives us life that will never cease.

Let us pray:

Come Holy Spirit fall freshly upon us that we may be refreshed. Grant that we, trusting in You, may see beyond the here and now and recognize that our life that begins here and now with you will never cease.  Remind us, dear Lord, that there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can separate us from Your love.  Grant us courage to continue, grace to trust and love which brings new life.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen