Calming The Storm: 3 Lessons to Learn From Ezekiel’s Vision Of The Valley Of Bones
Imagine that your boss wants you to be in charge of securing a permanent land space for your company and even gives you the liberty to make any other decision on the company’s behalf.
Just in front of the land, you can see a partially demolished building with a bold sign that reads, “CAN YOU BUY ME? REMEMBER THAT OLD CAN BECOME NEW”.
What would you do?
That is similar to what happened to Ezekiel when God sent him into the midst of a valley that was full of dry bones. What God asked him sounded like a crazy question-“Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3). The answer is pretty straightforward if you do not have the picture of God in mind. This prophet shed his human mind for a moment and did not just answer, “No!” like most of us will do.
Sometimes you and I are faced with “Ezekiel moments. There are times when life feels so overwhelming and hopeless. Maybe it’s a health issue, a job loss, or the death of a loved one, or a combination of some and more. It can feel like you are in the middle of the valley of dry bones, and you can almost hear: “Son of man, can these bones live?” It would take optimal grace, a strong faith, and ONE VERY IMPORTANT thing to rise from that dark situation of hopelessness into the resurrection of a new dawn.
The bones in the valley of Ezekiel’s vision only needed a quickening process to become a living army. If we had done a fossil test on those bones, we most likely would have found out how old they were. They were not fresh bones. As Ezekiel responded that only God knew if the dry bones could live again, he handed over his mind to be a tool for God’s intentions. He knew that as a man, he could not change anything by trying to rationalize the situation and did the best thing possible- he placed his trust in God’s Word. Before I go on, let me share three things the account of the valley of bones taught me with you.
1. We Were Not Made to Have All The Answers
God’s people were in a state of lifelessness. They faced defeat- their homes destroyed, their culture destroyed, their sacred Temple torn down with impunity, their lives disrupted, their families torn apart, and they lost their loved ones in the process. Before this vision, Ezekiel had been manifesting the gift of prophecy. He even warned the people of the siege against Jerusalem.
When God took him to the valley, he saw age-long bones, and he did not try to give a knowledgeable response. Of course, bones don’t live by themselves, especially not the dry ones that are scattered, disjointed, and incapable of pulling themselves together into a living thing. Scientifically, that question would have gotten a negative response, but God operates in the realm of the extraordinary where science has no place.
When we face a dark cloud like the one this pandemic brought in, we must understand that our human reasoning is not enough. The winter storm that has put almost everything on hold in the US is no one’s fault. Is it? Covid-19 vaccines have been developed, tested, approved, and are undergoing distribution, but suddenly a natural disaster strikes to halt the process.
Are we not trying our best as humans? Hold on, did I hear you say maybe it is not enough? Well, you are right. We are not to have all the answers. That is why there is a God system in the supernatural to help us through any of these moments.
2. Only The Word Of God Is A Guarantee For The Future
The people were in a great deal of suffering; darkness had covered their land, and hopelessness filled their hearts, yet they resisted physical death. God spoke and told Ezekiel to repeat after him and prophesy to the bones. It was the Word of God that brought those bones to life. They became flesh, blood, and bones because of His spoken Word.
God’s promise was to his people who had hit a dead-end. Their leaders had been rendered ineffective, and no man had been able to help. God decided to turn to them with a promise for a future they could not have guaranteed themselves but by his Word.
That is our global situation as of now. Our emergency plans of vaccine intervention are fast failing us. Our scientists can no longer assure us of the traits of this disease. Within one week, the regular snow that causes little or no havoc became a storm that has halted some of our economic processes.
No one can predict what will happen next — with the virus, our economy, or our regular routines. Should we then not find ourselves cast upon the mercy of God? Like the scripture says, there is only ONE Way- the Word of God.
The study of God’s Word is that quickening process that we need as Christians globally to stand as a living army against all the oppressions ravaging the world right now.
3. What We Can Do Is Not Enough, But What God Does Makes All The Difference
When God commanded Ezekiel to make the prophecy, He also made a command for the breath to come from the four winds into the dead and dry bones that had freshened up with flesh; so that they may live. Ezekiel did so, and the dry bones did live. The old became new, and they became a vast and mighty army!
Just as the dry bones represented the people of Israel, they also represent Christians on the rise today. Our source of survival is the Word of God. How better to study the Word than to do so communally? The churches are not yet in physical operations, but we have designed tools that make the Word easier and enjoyable.
The Word is our hope today, and it is our confidence. None of us knows what will happen tomorrow or next. All we want is for things to be different. We want people to be healthy and stop getting sick. We want life to return to normal, but we cannot keep doing things with our understanding. Like Jerusalem, we need the Word of God for a new life.
Amid this confusion and uncertainty, we must keep studying the Bible diligently. Word is a product on the ChurchPad App that lets the church stream church services online, set push notifications to alert members for a new live service, allows members to watch multiple live streams, and convert live streams to sermons.
This app will centralize the study of the Word from the comfort of every home. It is a proven solution to these confusing times.
Every Church must try it- register your Church today.
By Temitayo Badewole
