Apophatica

Hi all! I hope that life is treating you well as we head toward autumn.

I recently heard a sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-14. This is the passage on the valley of dry bones. It really struck me because there are times when we are down and out and feel like there is no way to get out of the rut we are in. We look up and may see a glimmer of light, but can’t seem to crawl up to where the light is coming in from. This can be the case in life, in business, or in both.

In this passage, Ezekiel sees all of this desolation in the wasteland before him. He is walking on bones and as they crunch under his feet, it had to have looked like all hope was lost. God, however, had other plans. He asked Ezekiel if he thought those dry bones could live again and Ezekiel replied that only God knew. Are there areas where you look and can only seem to see dry bones with no hope of success or revitalization?

God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and he did. The bones came together and were covered in flesh. He then told Ezekiel to prophesy again and life entered them and they came to life – “a vast army”. God promises then that he will bring life back to His people and that they too will live again. It’s important that we remember this promise as we start to let life get the best of us and feel despair.

Another key factor, I think, is that rather than God bringing these bones to life of his own volition, he told Ezekiel to first prophesy to the bones. We can see examples of this throughout the Bible and throughout life. Rather than pulling the Hebrews out of Egypt, he told Moses to go get them. Rather than bringing down the walls of Jericho, he had Joshua march around them. Although God is certainly capable of miracles, they almost always start with us.

Whether we are praying for ourselves or for someone else, we have to remember this – God works through us. If we are his hands and feet as the body of believers, we have a responsibility to DO the Word so that what we hope for can come to fruition. So, if you think that things can’t improve, get on your knees and pray, then get up and through the grace of God, make it happen! Remember, the getting up part is the key and no matter what things look like around us He has the final say over the outcome!

Just a thought . . .

B

* The majority of First Step Ministries funding comes from wedding services. If you are getting married in the Chicagoland area and need a wedding minister, you can find us at www.ministerforrent.com .

This entry was posted on September 16, 2010 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags chicago pastor, wedding minister, wedding pastor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.