Focus: In The Valley of Life (Pt.2)

Text: Ezk.37:1

"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and sat me down in the midst of the VALLEY which was FULL of BONES."

The valley was full of bones, which speaks of a lifeless situation. Death has occurred, bodies have decomposed, and only bones are left, and the bones are scattered everywhere in the valley. Life often happens like this. A certain wind blows, and we find ourselves exposed to our very bones. We feel empty and naked. Nothing is left of us but bare bones. Just one bad choice, one misstep, or one foolish act, and our lives are thrown out of balance. Sin results in captivity. Tell me, what is left of life if true freedom is lost? Life sours and loses taste if lived contrary to God's stipulations. Life in the valley leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

In verse 2, Ezekiel says the valley is not gated. It is an open valley; the bones are very many and very dry. The greater percentage of the world population live right in the valley where struggle and suffering are real. In the valley life seems like a lie and joy is rare. The bones are lifeless. The bones lack freshness, motion and action. The situation looks hopeless.

In verse 11, God tells Ezekiel that the dry bones represent the whole house of Israel. It is a picture of their miserable lives as captives, bereft of freedom and inundated with sadness. The pain is deep, and the agony dominates their daily conversation. They say, "Our bones are dried up; our hope is lost, and our life is ruined."

Verse 12 reveals that the open valley is actually a cemetery. The people are living corpses. Cemetery for bodies and bare bones!

Sometimes, I take my Bible and search for the valleys. The Bible is full of valleys - valley of tears, valley of trouble, valley of the shadow of darkness or death, and so on. Matthew 8 is another valley. Jesus climbs the mountain in Matthew 5 and comes down in Matthew 8, to meet people in serious need of help. That's life in the valley. Matthew 8 is a valley full of multitudes of suffering people. They are all over Him, seeking for His help. He meets a leper, a centurion, a sick mother in-law, a storm at sea, and the demon possessed. Interestingly, Jesus Christ settles all the issues and frees the suffering masses.

Whatever valley you are in, Jesus will meet you there. He is able to make you live the best life right in the valley.

God brings Ezekiel to the valley to see the plight of the people. You can't really know people until God shows them to you. There's really little you can know about people by their dressing. People lead cover-up lives. You can't know people from a distance. You must go to where they are, right in their own valley. On seeing the real condition of the people, Ezekiel becomes speechless, because it takes more than talk to know people.

The last point is that God did not bring Ezekiel to the valley for sightseeing, for an ordinary visit, for mere familiarization or fraternizing tour. No, not at all! He brings him there to solve a problem. God's plan is to use him to change the situation. And God did use Ezekiel. He preached dry bones back to life. He prayed the spirit back into them. By prophetic unction he turned a burying ground into a battleground. He raised an exceeding great army out of lifeless bones. That's the job of a true preacher. He partners with God to bring dead people to life. He preaches by the Spirit, declares God's revelation, and sees the resurrection power of Christ at work in his hearers.

Join me to pray for our own Ezekiels. Every era needs new Ezekiels. Dry bones are still looking for the Ezekiels, and I am sure that God is still bringing an Ezekiel to some valley.

I believe I am God's Ezekiel in today's valley, and I see dry bones being enlivened and revitalized by the anointing of God on my head. What about you? This globe of ours is a valley in need of God's Ezekiels. You are either in the valley, going through stuff, or you are an Ezekiel, bringing solution to someone in the valley.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter