God Can Bring Dry Areas to Life

Do you feel there are areas in your life that are impossible to change? Sometimes troubles seem to go on and on in our lives, sometimes for years, and we understandably become discouraged that anything is ever going to change.

Ezekiel lived in Old Testament times. He was willing to do what God asked him to do, and he was willing to say what God wanted him to say. At one point, God led Ezekiel to a valley. In this valley, dry bones were scattered everywhere. In Ezekiel 37:2, Ezekiel says, “And He caused me to pass round about among them, and behold, there were very many (human bones) in the open valley or plain, and behold, they were very dry.” The bones must have been there for a while because they had become very dried out. Do you ever feel that problems in your life have been there for a long, long time and nothing will ever change your circumstances? Do you feel there are things in your life that feel long dead?

Ezekiel 37:3 continues, “And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, You know!” When God asked Ezekiel this question, Ezekiel must have looked around in wonder. The bones were long dead and dried out. How could God be asking him if the bones could live? Ezekiel was respectful, though. He didn’t say, “You must be kidding!” He simply acknowledged that only God would know the answer to that question.

Then God made what seemed like a strange request of Ezekiel. “Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you (dry bones) shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord (the Sovereign Ruler)” (Ezekiel 37:5-6).

Now Ezekiel had seen enough of what God could do, and he knew enough to obey when God told him to do anything. So even though this may have seemed like an extremely strange request, in Ezekiel 37:7, Ezekiel obeys God. “So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a (thundering) noise and behold, a shaking and trembling and a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.”

Even though Ezekiel knew what God was capable of, it still must have been an awe-inspiring sight to see these dry, dead bones trembling and rattling as they came together. “And I looked and behold, there were sinews upon (the bones) and flesh came upon them and skin covered them over, but there was no breath or spirit in them” (Ezekiel 37:8).

Who is it who can bring life back into our dried up situations?

“Then said He to me, Prophesy to the breath and spirit, son of man, and say to the breath and spirit, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath and spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live” (Ezekiel 37:9).

Once again, Ezekiel obeyed God. “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath and spirit came into (the bones), and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great host” (Ezekiel 37:10).

Chris Tomlin sings a song with Lecrae called “Awake My Soul” that talks about this incident with Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones. It is well worth a listen.

Only God can breathe life into situations and problems in our lives that seem to be old and dried out and impossible. God loves you, and He wants to make your dead areas alive again. All you have to do is come to Him and ask. He wants to bring good back into the dry areas of your life.