What can God do in this valley where you find yourself? What can he bring back to life? What can he begin again? What can he make new? What can he restore? Girl, I have no idea … but we should start talking about it!
Seriously, it’s time to start talking about what God can do!
We’ve been focusing on how hard it is down here in this valley that we can’t seem to climb our way out of. We’ve been talking about how much we hate it and doubt it’s ever going to change. We’ve been consumed with how unfair it is, how difficult it is, and how nothing seems to be changing. But God is calling us to talk about something different!
It’s time to talk to your valley of dry bones about the life they could have!
Yesterday we talked about the fruit that only grows in the valley. Today, we talk about a few things that have died down here in the low pits where we don’t want to be for another day. Scattered remains of what used to be.
Yes, that wedding ring on your finger that reminds you of the day you made that commitment, as you stand in the remains of a messy relationship you’re not sure can be saved … or if you even want to save it.
Yes, that job you were so excited to start, now you hate dragging your butt in for another day where you exchange precious hours of life for a paycheck that doesn’t seem to be worth it any more.
Yes, that child you had such hope for, and they have successfully trashed every detail of their life as if it were their sole purpose.
Yes, your body that once worked for you, now it just seems to work against you. Everything hurts and nothing looks like it used to look. You don’t even recognize yourself in the mirror any more.
Of course this isn’t limited to marriages and careers, wayward children, FUPAs and saggy boobs. This is everything. Everything you thought was going to be, and everything it ended up not really being. Everything you hoped it was becoming, and everything it stopped short of. This is your valley of dry bones. Reminders of that which used to have so much promise, but now it’s wasting away.
What do you do in your pit where it’s all lost hope? Oh girl, you start talking to it!
Check this out, Ezekiel 37: 1-15:
“The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
4Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”
Ezekiel was standing in a valley of hopelessness. All hope was gone. Completely gone. Everything was gone. Nothing was working. This was beyond repair. And for all of my sisters who feel like they’re standing in the middle of something that is beyond repair, God is here taking hold of you, just as he did Ezekiel, and speaking to you. First he’s asking, “My daughter, can this work again? Can this be restored? Can what is too far gone and beyond hope be brought back to fullness again?”
What is your reply to God today? Can your valley of dry bones live again?
Ezekiel’s response was priceless. He says “Lord, you know.” Like, uhmmmm, why you asking me? I don’t know. I don’t know how this can ever be okay again. I don’t see how this will ever work. I don’t know what happened and I don’t know how to fix it. But Lord, you know.
My Sister, it’s okay to not know how or when … but it’s not okay to be stuck in believing no way and never. God alone knows, and he’s asking you to partner with him with the unknown and trust his power to do the impossible with your dry bones.
The next thing that happens is what we really need to take note of. God says to Ezekiel, “speak …” God instructs him to speak power over that which is too far gone. Speak God’s power over that which is too broken to save. Speak God’s power over that which is totally without life, without hope.
So, even though it makes no sense to Ezekiel as he’s staring at bones that are so far gone they’re literally dry, he speaks of that which only God can do. He told them to live again. And as he spoke, there was a rattling. Oh girl, a rattling! The broken bones came back together again. Flesh which had dried up began to appear again. And as Ezekiel kept speaking of the power of God over the impossible, it became possible. Breath was given, and life was renewed to what moments before was nothing but a valley of dry bones.
How did it happen? Ezekiel simply believed God’s power over things he could not possibly know or understand, and he aligned his thoughts and words with that power.
What if today, you started talking to the “too far gone-s” and “way beyond hope-s” in your life and tell them, hey, only God knows what could be here again. God can restore this. God can bring this back to life. God can change this in an instant. And if I’m what’s been standing in the way of that change, I’m officially getting out of the way today. I’m putting my thoughts and words in alignment with his power, and I’m believing WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
Verse 14 is specifically for you Sis, “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home … Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said.”
Return home to what? To who you were created to be. To the life God designed for you. To the good plans he had for you since long before you ever took your first breath. Yes, that’s what God is bringing you back to. He’s bringing you back to life again. And those dead things that are too far gone, beyond hope, and feel like they can’t be saved … well God simply expects you to change the way you think about them and talk about them.
What do you say? Quote that scripture. “Breathe into this dead _____, so that it may live again.” (insert your specific dry bones in the valley)
A crazy beautiful thing happens when you shift from your negative habits of talking about miserable, hopeless things … you stop feeling so miserable. You stop having that hopeless feeling in the pit of your stomach. A hope starts rising up in you. And you know what that hope is … That hope is the power of God that makes dry bones rattles and breaths life into things that were straight up dead, and it starts in you when you decide to talk about what is possible with this power instead of what is probably going to happen with this problem.
Enough with your problems probably gonna happen. Why you still talking about that? Talk to those dry bones about the power of God that makes all things possible, and you will get to witness the Lord doing what he said he was gonna do. You know … make all things new!!!!!
Only God knows what could really happen here. Partner with him in it!
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