Bones alive

God, you can raise the dead to life
you can calm a time of strife
you can still the raging sea
you can seek the lost like me

You can hear a lonely cry
you can quench a soul that’s dry
you can free a captive soul

you can make the broken whole*

^43-44Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose." (John 11 MSG)

1The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. 2He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" "O Sovereign LORD," I replied, "you alone know the answer to that." (Ezek. 37:3 NLT)

I came home several nights ago in a spiritual 'knot.' In my subsequent praying/journaling/working it out, I ended up thinking about how God can resurrect us - spiritually, emotionally, physically, etc. - from many types of death. Two bible stories I've looked at recently speak to that:

In John 11 we hear the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus' friend. In this passage Jesus tells the bystanders to remove the stone from the tomb's entrance and then calls Lazarus out of the grave. And so out walks a "cadaver" wrapped in grave cloths, complete with a "handkerchief" over the face. The Lazarus Jesus loved is alive again!

It may sound strange, but one of my favorite stories is in Ezekiel 37 - the Valley of the Dry Bones. I think that this story speaks to me because when I have been walking through really hard times in life, when I am feeling like I am only bones - or even "dust of bones" - I can hold on to the hope of God's resurrection. When Ezekiel is carried away by the Spirit of the Lord, he sees God resurrect a whole valley worth of people and breathe new life into them!

Notice a few other details about these stories -

- Jesus tells the people to "unwrap him and let him loose"

- the bones were "completely dried out" - there was no flesh on them - and so God miraculously provided the rest of the flesh

- Ezekiel acknowledges God's Sovereignty and Omniscience when he says that only God knows whether the bones can come back to life

I don't know where you are in your spiritual life and relationship with God, but it seems like I'm always needing some sort of resurrection in mine. Perhaps there's a dead place I've been ignoring a long time. Perhaps it's a sin I've finally "coaxed down the stairs"** one at a time and need to put something of value in its place. Perhaps its a relationship.... you get the idea. At any rate, when we see God do a resurrection, of whatever nature or size, we can know we have seen the glory of God.

"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)

Sovereign God, we come to you aware of the places in our lives where we need resurrection. Some places that are huge valleys of dry rotted bones, we need your miracles of healing, restoration, and hope. We need you to unwrap us from the things that tie us down, and free us to live the full life you call us to. Help us to trust you for our healing and to believe so that we may see your glory. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.

* When I was recovering from my spiritual "knot" I mis-remembered the answer Ezekiel gives God as being something about a God who can. From that little phrase - "GOD CAN" - I got the start of a whole song that I'm in the process of writing. (see above) Song (c) 2010 Joella VanOosterhout.

** "A habit cannot be thrown out the window, it must be coaxed down the stairs one step at a time." - Mark Twain