The Bone Collector

Sometimes I'll take the bus or train to work instead of driving.  Sometimes it's to save on gas, other times it's to get some exercise walking from the bus stop.  In the last 5+ years of this, I have seen an inner city culture that looks all too familiar to me.  Portland Ave South in Minneapolis, between Grant and Franklin Ave, remind me of my old neighborhood in Chicago.  People drunk laying in the street, drug dealers moving product on every other corner, women trying to sell their bodies for money or a fix for her addiction.  In the midst of all this, there are people trying to live everyday life, working, going to school, kids playing in the park, just doing everyday life.  Doing everyday life in the 'valley of dry bones.'  Now the dry bones, doesn't mean that the people that are doing wrong are bad people, they just made a series of bad choices that turn into bad habits, that turn into bad outcomes...addiction, homeless, jail or even death.
But there is one who has come to give life to the one in the valley of the 'dry bones.'  There is one who is the 'Bone Collector.'  Read Ezekiel 37:1-14, 1"The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  So I answered, "O Lord God, You know." 4 Again 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: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live" ' " 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.  11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from the graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.  Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord.' "

• It makes no difference the condition of your "dry bones," God knows.  Verse 11 states that "the condition of the bones are: dried up, all hope is lost, and are cut off."  Think about the tragedy and destruction that had taken place in their lives...hmmm.  Now think about your own personal tragedy that has happened in your life.  Foreclosure, broken dreams, death of a spouse or child, or even a natural disaster, tornado, hurricane.  Something that totally rips your whole life apart.  Shreds you mentally and emotionally so that all you want is to be alone, isolate and be by yourself in your own personal valley.  But God gives us a key to the restoration of our dry bones.  In verse 3, "And He said to me, son of man, can these bones live" And I answered, O Lord God, you know!"  The one the Lord calls the son of man showed great wisdom by not saying something that would make him sound like a bone head.  Something like, "No they can't live or I don't know," the son of man said, "O Lord you know."  You don't need to know the answer to the question as long as you know He knows.  He knows the answer before He asks the question.  So He has the answer to the problem of your dry bones before they become dry.

He will show you what to do with your dry bones.  Verse 4, "Again He said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Oh dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' " The second thing we need to do is, do what he said.  Whether it's the written Word or a Word in the Spirit, we must do it because it shows your obedience to your heavenly Father and it shows that you trust Him.  The next part of verse 4, "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."  Speak the Word of God to your bones.  The Word of God is the seed that starts the process of life for your dry bones.  Isaiah 55:11 (Amplified) "So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

• God will breathe life into you and cause His plans for you to come out of the grave.  Verse 12, "Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from the graves and bring you into the land of Israel."  Visions and dreams that may have gone dormant in your life, goals that you might have let slip, for one reason or another, can now live again.

His Spirit is the water that makes everything bloom.  Verse 14, "I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live." Joel 2:28, "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions."

Let's declare today that God breathes life into our bones and will bring us out of the valley of dry bones.  The Lord has spoken it and will perform it!

God Loves You And So Do I