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"Your friend's not dead; he's mostly dead!"
What a story we find in Ezekiel 37:1The 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. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you know." 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 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." 7 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. 8 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. 9 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." 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11 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.' 12 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. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 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."
In one of my favorite movies, "The Princess Bride," the hero of the movie is tortured beyond hope of life and his limp body is brought to a healer who is helping all who loved the man to have some hope and says the line I quoted above, "Your friend's is not dead; he's only mostly dead." But in this story the valley is full of dry bones, skeletons bleached by the sun. It is a picture of hopelessness and finality. The Lord places the prophet there and asks him, 'Mortal, can these bones live?" The prophet shares what a scared prophet can, "O Lord God, you know." Then God says speak truth to these bones and invite them to hear the word of God and if you do, "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." The prophet may have thought, "I've preached to some dead crowds before, but this is the worst!" Yet, he obeyed and preached God's word to them, and just as God said would happen, the bones began to transform into what God had said and they had sinews and flesh, and soon skin, but there was no breath in them. Then God orders the prophet to speak again commanding breath to come into them and he obeyed and just as was told would happen, the bodies came to life.
This was a vision of how low the people of Israel had gotten because of their lack of relationship with God. Life got the best of them and they spiritually withered away and great hopelessness came upon them. Yet God is a God of life Who can come into the most hopeless of situations and speak a word of life and re-make us and all who need, completely new. It matters not what we've done or what we're facing, our God is a God of life! God is a God of eternity and why would we think to limit His powers in our needs or challenges?
Friends, we have a God we can rely on even in the most challenging and troubling of times; why do we seek to live without hope or joy if we have such a God? Ours should be a decision to cry to the Lord and expect God to do wonderful things among us and through us.
PRAYER: Loving God, speak to that which is dying in me, be it hope or faith, and make it completely new. While you're at me, make me completely new as well, my heart, my soul, my mind and my body. I seek to glorify You with all my being. This I pray in Jesus' holy name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
P.S. Prayer Request: For Mr. José Refugio Garcia, father of my son-in-law, Jorge, undergoing open-heart surgery in McAllen. The doctors fear a small chance of survival because of the damage the heart has under gone. His surgery is at 7 a.m.
Traveling mercies for the youth of our conference traveling to Corpus Christi for a Worship Event being held at St. John's UMC. May God's Holy Spirit bless those attending with new life and hope!
