He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord."
- Ezekiel 37: 3-10
During this Lenten walk, you will have moments when things will not go the way you prefer. You will have days when you will feel boxed in with no way out. Depending upon your situation, you will want to just give up and take the easy way out.
That is what the Devil will have you do. He takes you down some lonely and untraveled back roads of life. He gives you the feeling of desperation and hopelessness.
Our text tells us that the spirit of the Lord took the prophet Ezekiel into a valley filled with dry bones. This valley of dry bones depicted lifelessness and hopelessness.
The Spirit of the Lord asked him a question: "Son of man, can these bones live?" What a question! Under normal circumstances, dry bones cannot be put back together again.
What do you do when you are in a valley of dry bones? Where do you go?
The spirit of the Lord had taken Ezekiel into this valley because he wanted to send a message to his people, the children of Israel. At the time, the Israelites were held captive in Babylon. Their captors taunted and ridiculed them and their God.
Consequently, they began to lose hope, thinking that God had abandoned them. Therefore, they lamented, "They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.'"
That is the way many people feel when they have crisis. When it appears that nothing can be done, some people just make the ultimate decision and end their lives.
You probably have been in such a valley during your life. There probably were times when you felt that you would never rise above your burdens; maybe it was the death of a loved one, or family issues, or your own illness, or the loss of your job, or just financial setbacks.
The people of God were in a difficult situation. They lived amongst pagan people who were saying terrible things about their God. They had lost hope.
Therefore, the Lord took Ezekiel into a valley where there seemed to be no hope, especially for those dry bones. Then he asked him, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
The human answer to that question is no. Dry bones cannot live because they are already dead. However, with God all thing are possible; God can make the impossible possible. The Lord instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. As he did, the bones became alive again, making the impossible possible.
In bringing those bones in the valley to life, God was telling the people of Israel that they should not worry about the things which their enemies were saying about them and their God. He is God and he never abdicates or abrogates his responsibility. He is always God and he will always stand by his people.
This is also a message to Christians: when you are down and feeling low, when you are in the valley and surrounded by dry bones, don't lose hope. Call on the name of God. Give Jesus a try and he will pick you up. He will stand by your side and walk with you. He will not let you stand alone.
Jesus has the power to raise us from the boneyard of life. When we think that all is lost and there is no way out, we have a friend in Jesus. He has the power to lift us up from any dilemma in which we find ourselves. Amen.
o Rev. Samuel M. Boodle, Pastor The Lutheran Church of Nassau, P. O. Box N 4794, Nassau, Bah. Phone: 426-9084 E-mail: lutheranchurch@coralwave.com, Website: www.nassaulutheranchurch.org.

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