What Do You Hope For?

Psalm 130; John 11:1-45; Ezekiel 37

Easter is only two weeks away. I hope this week you have spent some time thinking about your relationship with God. Whatever your journey, I hope these 40 days before Easter you have found peace and joy.

God promises that He will forgives us. Within that forgiveness He tells us that our sins are no longer in account.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34b)

That gives us spiritual hope! In Jesus all hope is restored.

In this reading, Israel finds themselves in serious trouble. Let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 37 to find out more:

The time is estimated to be around 586 B.C. and 538 B.C. Ezekiel is a prophet. At this time Israel had already split into two kingdoms and both kingdoms had failed miserably. At this reading both kingdoms would fall into the hands of their enemy, Babylon.

It was hard to feel sorry for Israel. They had intentionally broken all of God’s laws. And even with the leadership of good prophets like Ezekiel, the people did not want to change their bad habits.

God came to Ezekiel and brought him out by the Spirit of the Lord and set him the middle of a valley full of bones. A great many bones were on the floor of the valley, and the bones were very dry.

Make no mistake the dry bones symbolized the nation of Israel. There were absolutely no signs of life in this vision. With Israel’s disobedience it was hard to feel sorry for them. The old phrase comes to mind:

“You made your bed now you have to lay in it”.

These bones had no hope. These dry bones were beyond life in a dry and barren valley. The vision Ezekiel was experiencing was total hopelessness. Although we know:

“With man all hope is impossible,

but with God all things are made possible.”

Now if we are honest in answering the question that God asked of Ezekiel we may have thought …..

“Well, No.”

Face it. Not one of these bones can live. Not a one; they are too dry, too old, too dead. But Ezekiel is wise enough to know that he shouldn’t voice that answer. Instead, he plays it safe and says, “You know, Lord.” In some bible translations it reads, “You alone know, Lord.

This reminds me of the New Testament reading about Lazareth who Jesus raised from the dead. Martha and Mary were grieving. No hope was left. But God lives beyond the obvious.

Like Martha and Ezekiel, we see only the obvious or what we know. I can imagine Martha saying, like the lyrics in an old Gaither’s song with the same title:

“Jesus, you are four days late.”

“Do You think you could have come a little sooner?”

Returning to Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones.

Then God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones:

I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

God by saying “bones hear the word of the Lord” show He kind-of agrees with what we are thinking. God acknowledges that they cannot and will not live on their own. The only hope these bones, the nation of Israel, and even you and I as Disciples of Christ have, is God’s Word and the Breath of God. And so, Ezekiel, again, does what the Lord tells him.

However, the start isn’t very pretty, is it? God could have instantly turned these dry bones into living people but, God didn’t choose to do it that way. It was kind of like a scene from a thriller. He brought the bones together with a rattling sound. Bone to bone then flesh and skin yet, they seem to be like zombies. That was kind of creepy. But something was still missing. Something was off. They were not complete, or alive until the Breath of God entered them.

So, Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Just like Israel returning from dry bones into the hope that God intended. Sometimes our hopes don’t instantly appear. Even with God intervention, at times, we go through a process. The dry bones in Ezekiel vision had a purpose. Do your hopes align with God’s plan for your life? God desires good for you. The truth is, by our power alone we cannot be truly alive. We all have dry bones in our life. In all churches you find dry bones. Our families, the world just like this vision there are times of hopelessness. We cannot, without God’s intervention truly live. The Breath, the Holy Spirit makes us alive.

Have you been in a place of hopelessness? Some people may think that their sins are “the worst”. That God might help this other person, but never me. In the valley of the dry bones God did not walk through and say … This skeleton is worth raising but this one … this one is hopeless. NO! God restored all the dry bones into a mighty army.

We all have dry bones. However, God doesn’t leave us dry. God gives us hope. “Can these dry bones live?” YES! With Jesus we live in the valley of hope. In Christ Jesus all hope is restored.

Amen.