Ezekiel wondered. He heard God speak of restoration, & he still wondered. Israel was so far gone, so...ungodly. A large miracle was going to be needed to draw these people to their knees. As far as the human eye could see, they were hopeless. So after Ezekiel's teetering response, God sends him a vision.
THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES | EZEKIEL 37
The hand of the Lord was upon me, & he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord & set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back & forth among them, & I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me
I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know." Then he said to meSON OF MAN, CAN THESE BONES LIVE?
So I prophesied as I was commanded. & as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, & the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, & tendons & flesh appeared on them & skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to mePROPHESY TO THESE BONES & 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, & YOU WILL COME TO LIFE. I WILL ATTACH TENDONS TO YOU & MAKE FLESH COME UPON YOU & COVER YOU WITH SKIN; I WILL PUT BREATH IN YOU, & YOU WILL COME TO LIFE. THEN YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, & breath entered them; they came to life & stood up on their feet- a vast army. Then he said to mePROPHESY TO THE BREATH; PROPHESY, SON OF MAN, & SAY TO IT, 'THIS IS WHAT THE SOVEREIGN LORD SAYS: COME FROM THE FOUR WINDS, O BREATH, & BREATHE INTO THOSE SLAIN, THAT THEY MAY LIVE'.
SON OF MAN, THESE BONES ARE THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. THEY SAY, 'OUR BONES ARE DRIED UP & OUR HOPE IS GONE; WE ARE CUT OFF.' THEREFORE PROPHESY, SAY TO THEM: 'THIS IS WHAT THE SOVEREIGN LORD SAYS: O MY PEOPLE, I AM GOING TO OPEN YOUR GRAVES & BRING YOU UP FROM THEM. I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU & YOU WILL LIVE, & I WILL SETTLE YOU IN YOUR OWN LAND. THEN YOU WILL KNOW THAT I THE LORD HAVE SPOKEN, & I HAVE DONE IT, DECLARES THE LORD.
I cracked.
A simple tomorrow will be hard. New day, how do you carry so much weight? A common number, common month, & the difference in the year suddenly makes no difference, as my mind seems to be broken, slipping back to days that don't belong with today. Adding voice to a thought gives it character, & adds emotion. My mind tracing the hairline of tomorrow was enough to make me want to cocoon under the sheets & skip the day as a whole. To lose my mind for twenty-four hours, a delight. But to give words to this desperate need to disappear- the syllables wash over my face, slip into my fumbling hands, dry the noise in my throat to a whisper. Suddenly I'm staring at the lights, trying to regain the composure that has quickly rebelled against me.
She sees it in my eyes, & hers mimic mine. In moments like these I praise God for the interruptions of guests. Air. Catch it. Breathe.
I don't know why I felt so obligated to share this with my, you, my dear stranger friend. Though I don't know you, I know that hard times will come, if they haven't thrown themselves through your door quite yet. You'll cry out to your mind shut down, & beg the Lord come. Your bed will seem like a safe place, the floors beside, a heap of danger. & this is a theme I've been living with lately, all you hear me write. But I write what I know, & right now, I know discomfort. I know a little pain. But I also know Jesus, & I believe he puts things on my mind during these moments. He reminds me of stories. & though his voice is so faint, it echoes in the moments of reflection.
This is was his aloe for my sunburn. Here is soothing relief.
A taste of his medicine.
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL | JOHN 4
The Pharisees learned that Jesus was gaining more followers, & that he was baptizing more people that John the Baptist- even though it was actually Jesus' disciples doing the baptizing. So Jesus leaves Judea, once more heading back to Galilee. On the way, Jesus is passing through Samaria when he goes through a small town named Sychar, where Jacob's well happened to be. Jesus was exhausted from the trip & sat down at the well around noon. His disciples had all gone into town to buy food, but he remained alone at the well.
{ENTER SAMARITAN WOMAN}
Jesus sees her as she walks up to the well to draw water, & asks her for a drink. She looks at him like your nuts & replies, "You are a Jew & I am a Samaritan woman. We don't associate. How can you ask me for a drink?"
"If you knew the gift of God & who it is that asks for a drink, you would have asked him & he would've given you living water." & she's like okay, this is getting weird.
"Sir, you have nothing to draw with & the well is deep. Where can I get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well & drank from it himself, & as did his sons & his livestock?" I can imagine her arms crossed, impatience growing.
"Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternity."
"Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty & have to keep coming here to draw water."
He says go get your husband. She says I don't have a husband. He says I know you're right. You've had five husbands & the man you're with now isn't your husband. So what you said is quite true.
“I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Agape.
She wanted something else, something different, something more.
Passion & romance perhaps, or maybe quiet conversations in candlelit
rooms, or perhaps... something as simple as not being second.
(THE NOTEBOOK)
I'm at the well, & I'm drawing the water for this new day. I don't want to feel this yesterday. I don't want to thirst over memories. & Jesus says I can fill you. I can satisfy your thirsty heart. Because thirst is from emptiness, & I don't want to feel empty anymore. So I'm at the well, & I'm leaving the same as this broken, Samaritan woman. All common sense says Jesus shouldn't talk to me. I've been opened & broken & I've wondered & given. & Jesus takes common sense & folds it politely into the napkin at the dinner setting He's prepared for me. He says he knows, but He's unconcerned. He wants to talk to me about this life He's prepared for me, something so marvelous. I can feel the love flowing from his eyes across the table, staring into mine. & suddenly I can't remember the last one's name who walked out the door.
Far too far.
& this whole message is for you, when everything seems against you, screaming that you aren't fixable. When all of the sudden you wake one morning & you're that Israelite that doesn't need told you're too unmanageable, too broken to be rescued- you know, & the hopelessness buries you into your grave. God might be able to use you but why would he want to.
But the message of the Bible is redemption, & I see God standing with his arms open wide, consumed with passion to restore you. I see the Father, knees bent, eyes wide, cheering on his little girls first steps, cheering & shouting with joy for her! The Bible says he delights in it.
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin & forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but
delight to show mercy.
(MICAH 7:18)
Yahweh your God is there with you, the warrior-savior.
He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by
his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you!
(ZEPHANIAH 3:17)
Your skeleton bones are nothing to him. He looks at your bones & sees your beauty & all of the blessings he wants to cover those scars with. He says you see yourself in that grave, so deep all you see is the dirt piled all around you. But he's going to open your graves & bring you out of them. He's going to revive you.
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