"Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord." Ezekiel 37:11-14
This is an important event from the Old Testament because it teaches us a critically important lesson. We have always believed the Mighty Hand of God was behind everything that happened to Israel because...Yahweh was their national God since way back at the burning bush...when God chose them.
And the dry bones? I love the story! I believe the story! I want to be one of the people who get to observe the fulfillment of this story! But that's only half of it...
We are the spiritual seed of Abraham, grafted into this family through faith in Christ. We are within reach of that same mighty hand. Or, should I say the mighty Hand of God reaches us. We need to learn from our brethren...that hand is behind everything that happens. And I concede...it's not always comfortable. My mom died an ugly death as a result of Alzheimer's. This isn't what we want that mighty hand used for. We want that hand to bring peace and victory. To be fair, we get some of victories as well but, really, a "mighty" hand should do better than that. So...many of us lose confidence and carve out our own path hoping for better results.
Sadly, these folks were never taught to realize the life of one who follows that mighty hand is not easy. Ask Israel. If we understand Old Testament properly, that hardship is not because the hand of God lacks determination. It is because the heart of man lacks devotion.
I encourage you to begin, today, viewing everything in life as coming from that mighty hand. The first thing is...we will constantly be considering God as Author.
"Thank you God!" "Why, God?"
It will radically transform our lives. When life hurts we quit running around looking for solutions and start looking up for safety. When life is wonderful we quit looking around for who we can tell and look up to who we can thank. Before long we realize we are no long the center of our lives...God is. The Divine irony is simple. When we resolve this, nothing else matters.
Thank you, Keith Green, for that reminder.
Live boldly out there today...
