Shake off the dry bones

As I woke this morning (5/8/2015), a phrase was running through my mind, “Shake off the dry bones.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but as I searched through Bible verses with “dry” and “bones” in it, Ezekiel 37:2 popped out at me, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. 

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.

Of course, the very dry bones meant that these bodies had been there for a while. There was no flesh, sinew or anything left on them. They were as dead as dead can be. So I’m thinking, “Okay, God. There’s something important about this phrase. What is it?” So, I read the entire section of Ezekiel 37 “The Dry Bones Live”. 

God told Ezekiel to “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 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.”

So, Ezekiel does, and the bones stand up, getting their sinew and flesh, but they aren’t breathing. God told him to prophesy again. 

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.” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

So now, we have a living breathing army who was once dead come back to life again. You have to remember, this was a vision that God had given Ezekiel about Israel as a nation. God was causing Israel to rise again, and He was reestablishing the army. 

What got me was the next few verses, God’s explanation of what the vision was about.  

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!’ 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. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 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.’”

If we take this and put it into context into today’s time, God is telling us that He will take our old, dry bones and renew them, giving us hope again! If we listen to His words, have faith, and stay strong, He will breathe life back into our dry bones, giving us hope once again!

See, Christians are beginning to get weary. The enemy is fighting us hard, but God says to shake off the old bones! Shake off the weariness and have hope! He will see us through, and He’s going to make sure that we’re set up in the place of our inheritance (His promises). We're an army, and He's breathed life back into us!

Don’t lose hope. Don’t let the dry bones overtake you. Shake them off, and live in faith, knowing that God is going to put us back where we belong. He is going to help us and see us through the difficult times to get us to the good times.