“The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the leg bone… oh them dry bones!” It sounds like a biology class jingle, but it’s really an old time Sunday School song.
I never knew until much later in life that this song was based on the passage in Ezekiel 37 where the prophet is taken to a valley full of a great many bones that were very dry. “Can these bones live?” the Lord asks Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is baffled.
Baffled, indeed. There are dry and dead places in our lives and we too wonder if those places can ever come to life. A valley we never want to visit again. A broken relationship. A failure we can’t shake. An ongoing illness or hurt or struggle. Dry and dusty and dead.
God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and breath enters into the bones and brings those dry bones to life. The Breath of God brings life from death. It is the Gospel in its fullness. It is the message of redemption.
Just yesterday I felt a crispness to the morning air that signaled the beginning of fall. There’s a sense of hope that comes with a new school year. We expect things to be different. We want things to be fresh and new.
Our God is the God of second chances and new beginnings and fresh starts.
Where do you need His Breath to breathe life in your family? What is He inviting you to believe He can bring to life from the dead this fall?
I pray your home is deeply blessed with new life in God this fall,
Anne-Marie