I was one of those crazies that liked school. I liked to learn. I did my homework. I studied. I didn’t dread tests. They were usually pretty easy. Because I studied. Mostly because it came easy to me.
But some of those tests could be tricky. Especially those true or false tests where the two answers were not that far off. They both sounded right. They were both pretty close. It could go either way.
I’ve always been fascinated with Ezekiel. I especially like the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37 when the Lord took him to a valley and all that was there was bones. They were dry. Old and dry. They’d been dead a long time.
And there weren’t just a few bones here and there. Not just a fibula over here and some phalanges over there. (That’s a leg bone and fingers. Sometimes I just want to use the information I learned when I went to school for medical transcription. 🙂 )
Noooo….the Bible says the valley floor was covered with them. Everywhere he looked, all Ezekiel could see was dead, dry, old bones.
And then God asked him a question.
Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” (Ezekiel 37:3)
There were two answers Ezekiel could have picked from here. Only two. God was asking him a yes or no question. True or false. “Can these bones live?”
There was the obvious answer. The natural answer. The answer based on what he could see. And that would be, “No.”
The natural, obvious answer was no.
But on the other hand….Ezekiel knew a little something about God. The One who spoke the world into existence. The One who parted the Red Sea. He was talking to the One who fed Elijah with Ravens. Who did miracles. Who could make something out of nothing.
And I love his answer. He didn’t pick yes or no.
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” (Ezekiel 37:3)
I like to picture Ezekiel going over it in his mind. “Well, obviously that has never happened. Dead, dry, old bones living again. They’re dead. Old. So the answer must be no. BUT! God is a miracle worker. Nothing is impossible with Him. I wouldn’t put it past Him to be able to do this.”
Then once he thought it through, I like to picture him turning to the Lord and saying, “Lord. I have absolutely no idea. I’ve never seen it. It’s never been done before. But if anyone could make it happen, it would be You. So…what do You think?”
And the end of the story is….God tells Ezekiel to speak to those bones and command them to come back together and command sinew and muscle and flesh to come on them and command the breath to come. And it did.
So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. (Ezekiel 37:10)
There are two answers we can pick from. But really only one right answer. What’s your answer going to be?
We face things in life that look impossible. It looks like there’s no way out. No way of escape. No way that dead situation can live again.
And that’s exactly what we speak. That’s our answer. The natural answer. We would have said, “No! These bones can’t live!”
But then there’s the faith answer. The life answer. The answer that says, “Nothing is impossible with You. If anyone can do it, You can. Lord, I trust you!”
And then we need to do what Ezekiel did. “So I spoke as He commanded me.”
We need to say what He says about our situations. And ONLY what He says. Speak His Word!
Every time we speak His Word, we release His power into our situation. His Word coming out of our mouths is just as powerful as when it came out of His mouth when He said, “Let there be!”
Death and life are in the power of our tongues. Our mouths. Our words.
What answer are you giving the “dead” things in your life?
Choose life. Choose to think life. Choose to speak life. Release His power. He’s faithful who promised!