Sometimes you may come to a place that seems impossible to pass. This is a place that edges the border of what we have been delivered from to where we are being brought to. It is in situations like these when God shows up, there is no doubt that His hands have been working something extraordinary through it all. The waters may crash on the shores before and the enemy’s army may be rolling behind, but God sees you, standing there on the fringe, in a world where these two impossibilities meet, yet in Him, there is nothing impossible. In Him, there is always a way. In Him, you are not in a helpless position. In Him, the victory is already won. Before you ever came to this place, He already knew what He would do. So rest, weary one, in His sovereignty. Rest in His plan. You may not understand it, but He does. You may not know how it will work out, but He does. This will be performed by His strength, His wisdom, and His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6), not by anything we say or do. In getting past this place, all glory, honor, praise, and credit go to God. He is the one who will get you to the other side in peace and wholeness, with singing and rejoicing (Exodus 15:1-21). To you who are standing on the edge, in Him, you are not standing alone.
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” Exodus 14:13-18
Please Note: Ads below or referenced on this site are prefabricated and mass-produced (of which I currently have no control over) and DO NOT necessarily represent the views and/or beliefs of this site and its admin.
If looking at a valley of dead bones isn’t enough, then what follows would have blown my mind! God does some pretty amazing things in the Bible and this by far has to be one of my favorite stories that display His complete sovereignty and grace. It’s one thing to hear of people being brought back from the dead and it’s quite another to see the process unfold in such an extraordinary way, even if it is in a wonderful vision.
Can you imagine experiencing that moment with God, and Him asking what is supposedly a simple but not-so-simple question? “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ez. 37:3). That question must’ve rolled through his mind, stunning him a bit. Awestruck, his response was as I believe mine would have been, “O Lord God, thou knowest” (Ez. 37:3).
At that point, I believe Ezekiel was probably starting to realize in a whole new way the magnitude of this wonderful God we serve. Looking out over the valley that he was drawn to, and seeing the waste of what was once life and trying to imagine them alive? His response was to appeal to the sovereignty of God – “You know!”
God does know, but perhaps He wants us to know that He knows. Right? It may sound confusing but God puts these questions out there to see where our belief lies. To see if we really see Him as the One who is in control of everything, including those things that appear utterly dead and beyond the hope of restoration.
I don’t know personally how it may have looked, but I can imagine the scene in my head. Going about through that place and seeing nothing but human remains here and there. I would have begun pondering all the “what’s, who’s, why’s and how’s” all this came to pass. What battle took place? Who was involved? Why did it have to come to this? How is it that there were none left to bury the dead? There before him, was a mass of unanswered questions covering a sea of death.
I wonder about that scene with the appearance of bodies upon bodies, stacked and scattered throughout. Lives were gone here and there remained nothing but death and dry bones. Nothing to cheer about, nothing to hope for if it were not for that question that came from the mouth of the Lord: “Can these bones live?”
Death in reverse? Is that what God was asking, he must have wondered? Taking an impossible act of nature and reenacting the process in rewind mode? If the question wasn’t enough, how about the command: “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” (Ez. 37:4). Standing reverently but in utter stupefaction, Ezekiel must have known that he was at a point of no return in his ministry. God was drawing him deeper into the process. “I don’t know about this,” may have been what most would be thinking as they did as He commanded.
What would it have been like? At the spoken command, to hear an unsettling sound. A noise permeates the atmosphere. Rattling began to disturb the quiet of the valley. In a place that knew only demise and decay would now be re-identified as something miraculous. The rattle was with purpose. It meant things were moving into their proper place. It meant brokenness was being made whole. It was the start of a brand new life where there was none before. This was incredible to not only witness but to be a part of!
After the re-attachment of limbs and other skeletal remains, the real stuff transpired. It’s one thing for bones to find their host bodies and reattach themselves. It’s quite another to witness those very bones, and the nothingness that was left, begin to take on a new life. Sinews and flesh began to re-cover the bleached, parched surfaces. All the while, Ezekiel just watches. What would you do? Like a train wreck, as horrible as it may seem you can’t tear your eyes away from it. Under it all, organs started to reform and the life supply of veins maneuvered their way throughout, spreading the possibility for more life.
But God was not done, yet. He was genuinely reversing the life process. The bodies were now formed and covered “but there was no breath in them” (Ez. 37:8). Then, God gave him a new command: “Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” (Ez. 37:9). Ezekiel followed God’s command and said, “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” (Ez. 37:10). Before they stood, did they gasp at the feel of air entering their lungs once again? When they stood, did they turn to each other recognizing the “what was” and processing the “what is now?”
To see dead bones live in this fashion would have been awesome and beautiful. Think about it. God showed Ezekiel an impossible situation and did a complete turnaround and restored life where only death resided (compare to Israel’s spiritual restoration found in Ezekiel 37:11-14). It’s as if He had His finger on the hands of some big clock and purposefully began to rotate it backward. Spinning it and spinning it until all the death that once was had to let go and make room for new life to come to the forefront once again. What would it have been like to witness this vision?
Don’t you know? We may have not been bones but what remained of us of what the world stripped away was given a new command in the valley. The valley, our lowest point of life, was shaken and rattled until it stood at the command of God. Our lifelessness was renewed when His Spirit breathed in us freshness untold. Before He had a vision of us, we were surrounded by spiritual death. But then there arose potential out of nothingness. Captured by grace and loved on through His mercy, we received in us His gift of a second chance.
There are a lot of things in that particular vision of the valley that would have left me unsettled but I only had to turn to the One who was commanding the change in me and see the love in His eyes for me. I only had to look and believe as He did that, there is something alive here, there is something that can be raised up for me. We have all been in that valley. Vision or not, many have been to the place of impossibility just to see Him make it possible.
To see those bones rise to new life and live would have been awesome. But to see what He has done in us is far better. I don’t know what it would have been like there but I know what it is like here. The Bible says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection,” (Romans 6:4-5). Because of Christ, we have received another chance to experience a new life outside of the valley. Just because it appears dead, doesn’t mean it’s so. God can raise up the most impossible of situations.
Please Note: Ads below or referenced on this site are prefabricated and mass-produced (of which I currently have no control over) and DO NOT necessarily represent the views and/or beliefs of this site and its admin.
Sometimes you may come to a place that seems impossible to pass. This is a place that edges the border of what we have been delivered from to where we are being brought to. It is in situations like these, when God shows up, there is no doubt that His hands have been working something extraordinary through it all. The waters may crash on the shores before and the enemy’s army may be rolling behind, but God sees you, standing there on the fringe, in a world where these two impossibilities meet, yet in Him, there is nothing impossible. In Him, there is always a way. In Him, you are not in a helpless position. In Him, the victory is already won. Before you ever came to this place, He already knew what He would do. So rest, weary one, in His sovereignty. Rest in His plan. You may not understand it, but He does. You may not know how it will work out, but He does. This will be performed by His strength, His wisdom, and His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6), not by anything we say or do. In getting past this place, all glory, honor, praise, and credit go to God. He is the one who will get you to the other side in peace and wholeness, with singing and rejoicing (Exodus 15:1-21). To you who are standing on the edge, in Him, you are not standing alone.
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” Exodus 14:13-18
Please Note: Ads below or referenced on this site are prefabricated and mass-produced (of which I currently have no control over) and DO NOT necessarily represent the views and/or beliefs of this site and its admin.
Word For Life Says... 