Dry Bones

Dry Bones

I prayed again to the God of all things good, knowing the scriptures that he would surely listen to. Knock and He would answer, so I knocked and I knocked until all flesh from my balled up fist were bare and I still found myself with no answer. Day after day I drug myself to a job I hated. A job that paid bills I began to hate, that helped to put a roof on a house that I began to regret and helped a hard-working man I began to resent. I wanted to quit. I wanted him to work more so I could quit. I begged him to trust God and let me quit. I made myself believe it was his lack of faith and not mine.  Each day more and more of flesh was left at that job until all that was left was bitter, brittle dry bones. I lay wasting away in field of misery with the bones of self-pity all around me. You have not because you ask not, whatever I thought. I have begged and yet my God still allows me to suffer. The God that parted the Red sea has seen fit to give me one failed interview in three years. I praised Him and swore I trusted him, yet with every unanswered resume, my flesh was dying and my true self was showing. Dry bones, untrusting, unwilling to pray for just one hour…. God, why do you keep me here at this job I hate? I would have taken any job He gave me or that I found for myself. Less pay, less hours, boring, tedious, beneath my skill set, anything. Dry empty bones lay wasting away as I spoke words of trust to all who would listen but spoke words of distrust to my God.

The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

² He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I replied, “Lord God, only You know.”

Ezekiel 37 1-3

Years of working in an industry struggling to keep up with ever changing technology had brought me to a place of insecurity. As my title did not change for 12 years, my job description did and yet I was unable to change with it. In period of 12 months I went from being a top performer to a failing employee. For 5 years my performance reviews reflected new expectations and failed to mention the things I still excelled in. The truth, I didn’t adapt well and my self-confidence was disappearing along with any hopes of promotion or raise. The last three years I was demoted and forced to take a huge pay cut. For financial reasons, I stayed with the company instead of taking a severance package and regret filled my soul the moment I accepted. From that moment my flesh started slipping and I desperately held on to hope that God would make my dry bones live.

⁴ He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to these bones:

I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin.

I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

Ezekiel 37 4-6

The day came that I got a new job. As I began to work in a new environment my confidence started to come back. Most recently, God has used this company as a vessel to send my husband on a mission trip, when we had barely breathed the words, God will provide. This vessel has become like the daily manna that the Israelites experienced day after day. He is just in time with His gifts and slowly I am learning to trust His promise and His timing. I knocked and he answer, I ask and he gave. The timing perfect and everything just enough to get us through day by day.

So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

 ⁸ As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. ⁹ He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, ^[a] prophesy, son of man. Say to it:

 This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!”

 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath^[b] entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

Ezekiel 37 7-10

This weekend I was riding in my car when I heard a song about God breathing life into the dry bones I started to think about the last few years of my life and how I now feel. The last week at my new job has been wonderful with rewards from executive level to department level. The sense of employment there is wonderful with people smiling and truly happy with the company they work for. For me, I smiled and realized that the years of negative reviews and unrewarded accomplishment, that had stripped me of my flesh, was over. My God had not just given me any job to make me happy, He had given me an opportunity to rebuild me. He is breathing new life into dry bones and the field of despair is alive with fresh green grass, trees of abundant fruit, hanging low to pick and my dry bones have flesh once more. Only a God that loves us, loves us enough to listen to selfish prayers, while making us wait on his perfect plan.

Father, I thank you for breathing on my dry bones. I praise you for loving me in my weakness. You are almighty, everlasting, and on time. Someone today is reading this and they are laying in valley of dry bones. Storms of life have blown them there. Breathe on her, give her hope, assurance, and grace. Amen.