Can These Bones Live?

Originally preached February 18, 2024

We are warned by Scripture to not allow our faith to become theoretical. James 1:22-25 says,

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

This month we have an opportunity to work together on a practical component of our faith: prayer. These books are essentially a planner for praying on different subjects for 40 days until Easter. Each day has a little bit of Scripture and some prompts for what specifically to pray about.

I also think it will be a very good thing that this congregation will be of one mind, thinking and praying about the same things for the next 40 days. Jesus promised in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.” If we can meet together during the week and pray together in person at times, that’s even better. I’m going to be doing exactly that this very afternoon, and I intend to do that with different people over this 40 days.

This is definitely something that we will get out of what we put into it. God doesn’t force anyone to come closer to Him. And it may well be that you struggle with wanting to pray. It’s definitely something I’ve experienced. If that’s the case with you, I would first say that it’s OK to practice the discipline of prayer, and learn to love it over time. That’s how we learn to enjoy many things in life. No child enjoys reading or writing at first, but many children learn to love reading and writing as they begin to practice it. Prayer is like any habit or skill—it’s not something that we become good at overnight. We have to cultivate a mindset of prayerfulness. In addition to that, it’s good to ask God to influence your desires. There’s a very interesting statement in Philippians 2:13:

“It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

To will is to want something. So God is active not only to work through our lives, but He also influences the desires of those who have His Holy Spirit. So if you’re having a hard time wanting to practice the daily prayers that are in this book over the next 40 days, I would also simply pray to God that He helps you want to pray. There’s nothing wrong with asking for that.

For myself, I think that God has been inviting me to increase my engagement through prayer over the last six months or so. And frankly, I’ve been resisting it. There are certain ways that I like to pray. I like to pray casually, as I’m driving or cleaning or doing other things. But I usually don’t like to pray at dedicated times, with my mind solely on God without distractions. And I especially don’t like lengthy prayers in a group with others. I get restless and impatient. And I think that these are areas where I personally need to grow right now. Since Shar and I have worked together on the current version of this booklet, I’ve been thinking and praying about my prayer habits for a few weeks now. On my return drive home for my trip, I stopped to stay with friends in Rapid City, and I was invited to pray as part of a group. We sat together and alternated informally between each of us praying, and we prayed about theological things, we prayed broadly for the church, we prayed about each other, and we prayed about specific, personal things in each of our lives. We did that for about half an hour, and there was something tangibly different than how I’ve felt about praying in a group in the past. I felt content and engaged and dramatically at peace, and I wasn’t impatient for it to be over with. It made me eager to repeat the experience with other people. For me, it was a good lesson in how quickly God can change me and reward me if I choose to seek closeness with Him. I’m confident that any of us who really choose to make the most out of prayer with the church for 40 days will see a tangible change for our efforts.

I do want to take advantage of today to set the stage for your expectations for 40 days of prayer. One passage that has been on my mind this week is Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ezekiel is a man living in the days of Babylonian exile, at the same time as Daniel and Habakkuk. He’s living in the land of Babylon and, along with the rest of his people, probably feels downtrodden and without hope. This is what he experiences in Ezekiel 37, starting in verse 1:

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.””

Ezekiel’s mother didn’t raise a fool. He’s not going to answer any trick questions from God. But what are these dry bones? The later verses are going to tell us that these bones represent the failed hopes of Israel. They represent the failure and loss of Israel’s bondage in Babylon, and their doubt of ever becoming a free people again. And they’re not wrong to see their own situation this way. The have no power, no influence, no ability to reestablish their kingdom by themselves. We pick up in verse 4:

“Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.””

This was the promise of God to His people in that day. But do we have faith that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever? Is God still a God who can resurrect dry bones? He most certainly is.

What are the dry bones in your life? Your marriage? Your family? Your career? Your faith? Your outlook on life? What situation in your life are you completely powerless and hopeless to resolve? If you could choose any of these things to completely turn around, and return to the hopes you used to have for it, what would it be? Now you have to ask yourself, O son of man, O daughter of man: can God make these bones live?

Jesus spoke frequently on prayer. He was bringing about a change where worshippers of God would no longer need to approach God at the Jerusalem temple, but would be able to access God anywhere, so long as they worshipped God in Spirit and in truth—because they would have the Holy Spirit interceding for them directly. In this, we have a privilege that few of God’s chosen people had before Christ—direct access to God. I think that there are times when what Jesus says about prayer makes us uncomfortable, because (and I speak for myself here) we know that we have not been experiencing the full potential of what He says. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus emphasizes both the personal and powerful nature of prayer, and He teaches that we are to ask from God as a child asks from his father. Starting in verse 7, Jesus says this:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Jesus teaches that our Father is eager and willing to give out gifts that are good for us. But do you notice that there’s a condition? Verse 11 says that He gives good things to those who ask Him. We have to be seeking God, we have to be asking Him for His involvement in our life, if we want to see His providence. God does not force Himself into the lives of those who do not seek His presence—and that includes even those who are saved by Him.

Lastly, I want to take you to 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 9 through 14. This is a passage which I’ve really been trying to understand lately. Here, Elijah has recently been victorious on Mount Carmel, but when Jezebel vows to put him to death, and Elijah sees that what he has done is not enough to turn Israel around, he flees into the wilderness and goes into a deep state of depression. God gives Him time to rest and be comforted, and then Elijah climbs a mountain to find the presence of God. Starting in verse 9 we read,

“There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

There is a continual association from Genesis to Revelation of the Holy Spirit with a gentle breeze. And here in 1 Kings 19, that relationship is made as explicit as possible. Elijah sees a torrential wind, but God is not in it. He sees an earthquake and a fire, but God are not in these either. Against all expectation, the place that Elijah experiences the all-powerful God of the universe is in a low whisper; a gentle breeze. And I think what that means is that God cannot be found in the grand and theatrical things of the world that tend to attract us. He cannot be found in wealth, or in pleasure-seeking, in politics or in motivational speeches, in lofty education or even in flamboyant, entertaining worship. These sorts of things are the strong winds and earthquakes and firestorms in our life. But God can only be found when we remove the distractions that appeal to our senses and seek Him alone, just as we have to strain to listen for the gentle breeze. This is why the ancient men of God sought God on mountaintops. This is why the Bible prescribes fasting and resistance to riches. This is why Jesus teaches to pray in solitude in silence and not on the streets. For whatever reason, God has made it that we can only find Him when we seek Him alone. The reason that He does not make Himself visible to the world is because He wants to meet only the true seekers. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” And if we want to find closeness with God in prayer, we are going to need to remember that. Whatever ways you decide to pray over these next 40 days, alone or with brethren, silent or aloud, remember that prayer is the process of seeking God alone and removing the external distractions from your life. I really look forward to the experiences and conversations we are going to have as a congregation over these next 40 days.

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