The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. (vv. 1-2)
DRY BONES
And they were very dry.
Last summer and early fall, almost no rain fell. Lawn after lawn dried up. When fall was over, any lawn that hadn’t been watered at least a little was parched. Bone dry. The grass was not just taking its annual winter snooze. It was stone dead. The plant, blade and root, was no longer really grass. It crumbled to powder. Like dry bones.
God sent Ezekiel to tell the Israelites that their constant sin was great, and that he was angry. They would become like dry bones. Instead of living in the world as his people, they lived like everyone else. They dishonored and profaned his name wherever they went (read chapter 36). In his righteous anger, God said that he would take the Israelites from their homeland for 400 years, and that they would wither and become dry and lifeless.
During Lent, we look at ourselves to see just how dry we are. We claim to be his people, but we behave just like the world around us. When we do not show his holiness, righteousness, mercy, love and truth in all that we do, we dishonor his name. Can others tell the difference between the world and we who claim to be God’s chosen, holy and set-apart people? We sin. No one sees God’s presence in the world through us. Just like the Israelites, in our sin we become dry bones.
God’s justice would leave us as dry bones in a desert valley. But his grace and mercy give us life. He gives new sinew, flesh and skin, and breathes life into his people, who are called to be his renewed army.
By his power and justice, he shows us our own sinfulness. By his power and grace we repent, and we live again as his people.
Holy Spirit, show us our sin and how dry we are. Give us hearts that repent, and in your grace give each of us the will to live as your own.
Tim Meyer
