Ezekiel: Weariness—Ezekiel 37: 1-14; John 14: 15-20
I saw a joke the other day that said, be careful how much you leave your kids with their grandparents. I asked my nephew the other day how old he was going to be. He replied, “I’m going to be 7 if the Lord sees fit to let me live that long.” Although in our day and age, that 6-year-old is probably just as weary as the rest of us, I imagine. As we continue our series on Shocking Grace, we look today at how God’s grace inspired and stirred the weariness in Ezekiel as he was led into the dry and desolate place of the valley of dry bones. We see in this scripture that God made life happen there, that Christ lives in us to make life happen in us, and that we must change our mindset of frailty to one of faith.
First, we read in Ezekiel that God brought the prophet to the valley filled with bones. It was a dry and desolate place where no life was found. I imagine the valley was a desert filled with sand which could fully dry out the bones. God then asks Elijah, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” Every morning when the alarm goes off, I ask that same question, “Lord, can these dry bones live again?” Usually after a couple cups of coffee I get close enough to shuffle out the door. Ezekiel, the valley, and whoever the bones belonged to were all weary. But out of that weariness, God brings life.
God first tells Ezekiel to speak a prophetic word, then God makes life happen from that word. Our God is no stranger to the power of the spoken word. In the beginning, God spoke the earth into existence. God called Moses with words from a burning bush. There is power when God’s word is spoken. Ezekiel, tired himself, goes out with what energy he can summon up and prophesies to dead bones as odd as that sounds.
But then the miraculous happens. God’s power pulls the scattered, weary, dry bones together and creates whole and complete humans. Then with another, more excited prophetic word, the breath of God enters the bodies and breathes life into them. The same God who created the heavens and earth can breathe life into our weariness and help us to live again. It’s not just words spoken to bones. You can chatter over your rack of ribs at the barbecue joint all day long, but they’re not going to leap up from the plate and become a human. It’s the power of God’s prophetic word coupled with the power of God to make life happen out of nothing. The Bible is filled with instances where God brings the dead back to life, where God creates out of nothingness, where God proves over and over again our calling, our faith, our hope is in a God who gives life.
In particular, it’s even easier in our situation. God’s words of life and strength do not have to trickle down through a prophet. John 14:16 tells us that God “will give [us] another Advocate who will never leave [us].” Verse 17 goes on to remind us that this Advocate, the Holy Spirit lives in and works through people of faith. It’s as if God is right here all the time. Even as we become weary, tired, and worn out by the world, God is saying, “Over here! I’m ready to give you strength and power and life in your dry bones!” This is the same God who reminds us of that perfect strength given to us when our strength is gone…that even when we are weak, in Christ, we are actually strong.
When we pray, when study and spend time with God, do our prayers ask for this strength, this life? Do we say in our prayers, “O Lord speak to me so that my dry and weary bones can live again!” Or are the prayers we say as bleak, dry, and dreary as our own outlook on life? We cannot come and sing that we’re “leaning on the everlasting arms” if we’re still tethered to crutches of insecurity, instability, and weariness.
I remember substituting for the music director at the Presbyterian Church in Danville, Kentucky, and the pastor told a story. A man went to church one Sunday. It was an old and well-established monument of a building with an old and well-established congregation who were just as much fixtures of the church as the historic pews. When the preacher made the first point, the man said audibly, “Amen!” Everyone looked around, shocked. On the second point, the man said, “Hallelujah!” There were notable sighs, gasps, and looking around. At the last point, the man loudly proclaimed, “Glory be to God!” Finally, an exasperated Deacon got up and asked the man what was wrong with him. The man said, “I can’t help it—I got the Spirit of God!” The deacon replied, “Well you didn’t get that here, so stop it!” My friends, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, lives in us to give us life.
So, then, we must change our words and attitudes from that of frailty to words and attitudes of faith. God tells Ezekiel to say to Israel that God knows they’ve lost hope; God knows they have become old, dry bones—weary, tired, and seemingly done for. But God has a prophetic word for them, “O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you and, and you will live again.” Mark those words! You will live again! But if we live convinced of our own frailty and weariness, that hope of life will escape us.
Now I’m not talking about being tired. We all get a bit tired sometimes. I’m talking about a weariness, a dry devastation that empties us of our faith, our hope, and our will to plunge forward into God’s spectacular calling. There’s a lot to make us weary. Any time I turn on the news these days I grow weary enough to pass out on the couch. Faith and this breath of life from God call us to look beyond the circumstances in front of us. Think of it like a big rainstorm. You have two choices: you can sit down and go nowhere, or you can put on your raincoat, get your umbrella and boots, and go out to forge ahead to where you need to be. God is like the rain gear. You may still get a bit wet, but you face the storm with protection. That’s what it means to lean on the everlasting arms that hold us up, give us strength, and save us from drowning in the weariness of life.
First it begins with our words spoken together with God’s Holy Word. How do we pray? How do we speak? How often do we convince ourselves we are too weary to live out God’s calling? How often do we let difficult circumstances overtake God’s hope in our lives? This isn’t a question of sin or bashing saying you’ve done something wrong. We do that too, don’t we? We compound our struggles with the belief that because we have struggled, we’re so sinful that there’s no way back from the deep, dark pit we’ve dug for ourselves.
This isn’t a question of sin or conviction. It’s a question how deep the roots of God’s words are. God promises, and indeed has proven, that in and through God there is life. The Spirit lives within us to make sure we can pray for that strength. And, if we change our minds and hearts from this focus on weariness and frailty to that of faith, perhaps we can find that hope again. God asks, “Can these dry bones live again?” The answer is yes, but the choice to say, “Yes, these dry bones can live again,” is yours to make. So, what do you say? “Child of God, can these dry bones live again?” Amen.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/162054359402224