Sunday December 10
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Dry bones: new life,
new hope
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
round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones,
and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause
breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will
cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’
So I prophesied as I had
been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling,
and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews
on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was
no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy,
mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God:
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them,
and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Then he said to me, ‘Mortal,
these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say
to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your
graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring
you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your
graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live,
and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.’
****
When Ezekiel saw this valley with thousands of dry bones he must
have thought “What can I do? Is this a giant jigsaw puzzle?” But God told him
that He would give these bones flesh and tendons and all parts necessary so
that they could praise the Lord and He did. What do we need to do today to have
all people join together to worship? There are many of our members who we have
not seen I a longtime, Are they those dry bones that need reviving? Shouldn’t
we reach out to them to encourage their participation in today’s church? We
need to let people know about church, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Let’s get
those bones up and moving so that they can praise the Lord today.
Prayer: Heavenly Father we ask for our help
and strength together with the wisdom to bring those bones together so that we
may become worthy to praise Your name. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Dorothy Kafalas
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