“Son of man, can these bones live?”
Reviving values in valleys of death
by theburningbushboy | Staff Writer | Eternal Affairs Media
When God wants to involve a man in what He’s about to do, He approaches and gives him a pictorial description of the situation He wants to fix. It’s hard for a man to start something meaningful without a mental picture of the end and the means to the end.
A man with revelation cannot travel at the same (slow) pace as the blind. And surely, nobody can run towards what he’s yet to see. One of the ways God, therefore, helps a man He needs in service is to give him a vivid revelation of what his duty entails. You can’t toy with a man of vision.
Ezekiel’s experience
“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.“
Ezek. 37:1
There’s an urgent need for God’s servants to ask for, at least, an initial idea of what God intends to do through us. We need to pray for God’s hand to take us from wherever we are to the valley of bones He intends to bring about revival.
There’s a valley of bones out there in need of divine visitation. There’s a land, a school or a family somewhere, which, like this valley, is full of dead hopes and aspirations. Until we yield to God’s move to take us from our positions, which we may have found so comfortable, and taken to the midst of these valleys, their situations may be without solutions. These valleys must first be revealed in our inner spirit for us to cry for the restoration of the dry bones/lives therein.
Ezekiel did not see the bones in the valley from afar; God walked him through the valley. He travelled the length and breadth of the valley, right amid the bones, and that was when he could see they were not only bones but dry bones in their numbers.
You may never know how critical a situation is until you’ve walked through and about it. Staying aloof or watching from afar will deny us the chance to the right assessment of the work at hand.
Can we ask God to walk us through the valley He needs us to bring about revival? Yes! As He does, we’ll be at a vantage position to see what is hidden or obscure to others. If you have not come close to a challenge, or sometimes find yourself right within it, you may not eagerly desire to find a solution.
Having observed the state of the bones in the valley, God took Ezekiel a step further. The purpose of the excursion must be defined and this God did in the form of a question.
“Son of man, can these bones live?”
Ezek. 37:3
It takes having a close relationship with God to understand this was beyond question. God was, quietly, unveiling His plan for the dry bones, which was to have them back to life! God’s question then became a statement of purpose.
God will ask you a question as though your answer will determine what He wants to do. He’s already in the know of what He wants to do, yet it won’t be wrong to find out if you have seen through the trouble of bringing you to meet a family passing through troubled moments. Is He showing you the terrible state of the family for the fun of it?
When He burdens your heart with a matter, He wants you to act upon it. The visit to the Valley of Dry Bones was to elicit a revival-based action from Ezekiel. It’s the same with you if you sense He is showing you something like a valley of challenges right now in your spirit.
When He comes bothering you, as it were, with the situation of a valley out there, it is so that you can yield yourself to work out a solution. You’ll soon be changing the narrative of the valley.
Ezekiel must have stood stupefied before God for a moment, knowing he had seen a situation beyond his faith and understanding. How on earth can such a situation experience life again? Better if they were just fresh dead bodies, but dry bones?! Though puzzled, he sincerely replied, “O Lord God, thou knowest”.
That was very well said of Ezekiel! He carefully redirected the matter to God. If the dry bones would live once again, then God must be willing to make them live. If they will live, then it is up to God. We need to know it’s all about God.
Surely, God knew what He had planned. Ezekiel could be confused but not God. He brought Ezekiel through it because He needed him to make a pronouncement that would push Him to act. God wants all things He created to live despite their seemingly irredeemable conditions, so, watch how you respond to His questions to you.
God is aware of what He wants to do, yet He’s handicapped until He finds you to speak out from. Until you’re taken to the valleys of lifeless situations in your community or nation, and from there you start responding as commanded, nothing in such valleys will change.
There is no bad situation God cannot revive; no dead vision He cannot renew. Think of what has gone bad, odourless and rancid; observe the depth of the situation and make yourself available for God to bring back the lost glory.
I need God to take me to a valley whose dry bones must be revived. I want to stand by Him and for Him in total agreement that terrible situations can be made beautiful. There’s life in the valley of death!
As I stand wondering if the nations and the Body of Christ can still be revived, I wish to tell God He is the Resurrection and the Life, qualifying Him to decide on what He wants. Yet I know He is the God of the living, the living One who desires that all things of His get to live before Him.
In this regard, I will prophesy unto the dry bones to hear the word of the LORD. I will decree His breath into them all. I’m declaring the restoration of the sinews, flesh and skin – all that gave in to death are being recalled right now. Life is here in abundance!
Assured that the days death walk about in pride are numbered, I will, as Jesus walked into the house of Lazarus, announce my arrival at the valley of dry values pleasing unto the Lord to take me. Families shown to me as valleys full of dead members must hear God’s word from the LORD in me.
“The hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live”
John 5:25
I’m sure that when the dead hear the voice of the Lord from their valleys, death shall give up its prey. So, I urge you to allow God to freely take you out of whatever has engaged you unduly, for without a stepping out, there can’t be a stepping into. When you’re out of the cage, you have a bright chance of coming into purpose.
There’s a valley full of dry policies in government quarters that a child of God must be dropped. Our educational systems have become such valleys of dead values in need of an Ezekiel. Nations are vivid examples of these valleys – the lands need to hear the word of God again, which fully restores.
Above all, be a man given to writing, preaching and teaching only as you hear from the LORD. Remember that the dead and the spirit of death will only obey God’s word and not yours.
Mary, Martha and their friends had attempted to call back Lazarus from the grave, but death despised their cries (words) until Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, appeared on the scene.
The moment Jesus called, “Lazarus, come forth”, death yielded in submission.
We need Him to speak through us to dry bones in our political, family, religious and societal valleys. We must allow Him to put words in our mouths and string our acts for their restoration.
Go, now, and restore the value of lives in the valleys of death!
