Church, we did not gather today by accident or obligation. We did not come simply because the doors were open or because the schedule told us to show up. We came because somebody in this room needs a fresh word, a fresh wind, and a fresh work from God.
On the outside, we look fine. We are dressed. We are seated. We are smiling. But the truth is, some of us are not sitting in pews at all. We are standing in a valley.
Not a valley of one bad day, but a valley of pressure. A valley of burnout. A valley of disappointment. A valley where temptation pulls harder than encouragement. A valley where your smile is public but your struggle is private. A valley where you still love God, but you are tired. A valley where you still believe, but life has hit you so many times that you quietly wonder if you will ever rise again.
What I have learned is this. When you find yourself in a valley, God’s Word has a way of meeting you there. When your words run out, His Word speaks. When your strength fades, His truth stands. That is why Ezekiel chapter 37 matters so much, because it shows us what God does when His people feel worn down, dried out, and almost done.
Ezekiel is not preaching from a mountaintop. He is not standing in a palace or teaching from a temple. Scripture says the hand of the Lord carried him into a valley full of dry bones. Not just dead bones, but very dry bones. Long gone. Brittle. Stripped of promise. Emptied of potential.
This was not just a graveyard. It was a picture of a people crushed by life.
Israel had lost the land that grounded them, the temple that centered their worship, and the leadership that gave them direction. They had lost dignity. They had lost stability. Most of all, they had lost hope. And when hope disappears, language changes. People start talking like dry bones. They say things like, “It’s over.” “Nothing will ever change.” “This is just how it’s going to be.” They keep living, but inside they feel finished.
Right there in that valley, God asked a question that still reaches our hearts today.
POINT I: GOD MEETS US IN OUR DRIEST PLACES
Ezekiel 37:1–3
“The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones… He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’”
God did not meet Ezekiel in comfort. He met him in confrontation. God carried him into a place Ezekiel would not have chosen so he could see what God could do where hope seemed beyond repair.
Some of your most meaningful encounters with God will not happen when everything is going well. They will happen when you are at your driest. Dry prayer life. Dry worship. Dry passion. Dry joy. Dry patience. Dry peace. You still show up, but you do not feel like yourself. You still serve, but you are running on fumes.
And God asks a question that is not meant to shame you, but to surface your faith. Can these bones live?
Can your joy live again? Can your marriage live again? Can your faith live again? Can your calling live again?
Ezekiel answers the only way an honest believer can answer. “Lord, You alone know.” That is not doubt. That is surrender. That is not unbelief. That is humility. Ezekiel places the impossible back where it belongs, in the hands of God.
Dry bones are not the same as no bones. If there are bones, there is still something to work with. If there is a remnant, God can revive it. Do not despise your dry season. Sometimes dryness is simply the stage God uses to display His breath.
POINT II: GOD RELEASES LIFE THROUGH HIS WORD
Ezekiel 37:4–6
“Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!”’”
God tells Ezekiel to speak to what looks dead. God reminds us that life often returns through Spirit-filled proclamation. Not just preaching from pulpits, but speaking in prayer. Speaking in homes. Speaking in cars. Speaking over children. Speaking over minds. Speaking over habits and callings.
Ezekiel obeys, and at first there is no resurrection. But there is a sound. A rattling. A stirring. Sometimes the first sign of revival is not life, but movement. Sometimes breakthrough begins with a shake.
Do not stop speaking just because you do not see instant change. When God’s Word meets dry bones, things start shifting. Healing may not happen all at once, but movement means God is working. The sound is evidence that the Word has been released.
POINT III: GOD BREATHES LIFE WHERE CONNECTION IS RESTORED
Ezekiel 37:7–10
“So I prophesied as I was commanded… the bones came together, bone to bone… then breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet.”
Before breath came, connection came. Before life came, unity came. God gathered before He breathed. Revival does not happen in isolation. The bones did not rise one by one. They rose together.
Some of us are praying for breath while living disconnected. We want strength but avoid community. We want healing but choose isolation. But God teaches us that there are some things He will only breathe on once we reconnect.
Isolation weakens, but connection strengthens. And when God breathes, what was dry stands up strong. What was scattered comes together. What was weak becomes an army.
CONCLUSION: GOD STILL BREATHES
So yes, church, these bones can live. Not because the valley changed. Not because the pressure disappeared. But because God breathed.
Live, church. Live in the valley. Live through the shaking. Live through the waiting.
And let me take it higher. There was a time when we were dead in our souls. Alive on the outside, empty on the inside. But Jesus stepped in. He died. He rose. And early one morning, God breathed again. The stone was rolled away. Death was defeated.
And because He lives, your dry bones can live. Breathe on us again, Lord. And when He breathes, what was dry will rise.
God still breathes.
Amen.
