WHEN YOU ARE IN THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES

In Ezekiel chapter 37 and verse 11, we are given a picture of Israel from a Divine perspective.  “Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off from our parts.”

• They were disconnected
• They were broken
• They were dried up
• They had no life
• And they had no hope

This was a picture of the “whole house of Israel,” who said their bones are dried up and their hope is lost.

• You see, when you’re dried up, you lose hope;
• When you’re dried up, you feel lonely and isolated;
• When you’re dried up, you feel like no one understands, and worse, no one cares;
• And if you are REALLY dried up, you don’t even know if you care anymore.

You see, dryness is when all hope is gone and you feel cut-off, all alone and isolated.  I want you to understand that it was Israel’s disobedience that created distance with God – they didn’t end up in the Valley by accident.

Israel loved God one day and then they’d turn their back on God the next day.  This pattern happened over and over with God’s people (and still continues in God’s people today).  The more disobedient they were to God, the more distance they put between them and God, until finally they ended up in the Valley of Dry Bones.

And listen, there is a simple answer to why there may be dryness in our lives.  If there is dryness in your soul, it is simply because there is distance between you and God.  And if there is distance between you and God, somewhere in your soul, there is disobedience.

You know, we are a lot like Israel.  Even in Babylon, Israel would go through the motions:

• They would sing, and read the Pentetuch;
• They would gather together on certain days;
• They did what seemed to be the right things to do

But they were as dry as dead bones!  Listen:

• Preachers can preach sermons 52 Sundays a week and be dry in their soul;
• Teachers can teach and youth workers work every day of the year and be dry in their soul;
• You can come to church faithfully and read your Bible diligently and still be dry in your soul.
• You can wave a hanky, shout down the preacher, run up and down the aisles;

But deep down in your soul you know there is distance between you and God, and when you leave the church, you feel dead inside and feel like nothing but dry bones.  Have you been there?

So, here is Israel, distant from God in a foreign land, worshipping false idols;

• They’ve lost their song
• They’ve lost their joy;
• They’ve lost their dance.

I am talking  to every one who has ever said, “You know, I just don’t feel like going to church today,” “I just don’t want to participate today,” “I just don’t think I can do this anymore.”

The real shame is, when you feel like that, it’s usually everybody else’s fault:

• It’s the preachers fault;
• It’s the leaders fault;
• It’s everybody else in churches fault.

We blame our dryness on everything except the distance we’ve put between ourselves and God.  If you feel today that you are in the “Valley of Dry Bones,” I would encourage you to get back into the word of God and allow Him to breathe fresh life into your dry bones.  Can these bones live?  Is there any hope?  “LORD God Thou knowest!”