HOPE IN DRY TIMES
- Read Ezekiel 37:1-14
As we look at this passage of scripture, we find God’s hand on a prophet named Ezekiel. This anointed man, with God’s Spirit on him, was given a vision and in that vision he was taken to a valley. In the valley he saw a heart-breaking sight. The valley was covered with bones. God led him all around and had him look at the valley and at the bones from several angles and several view points. Everywhere he looked there were bones. They were the bones of God’s people, of the Israelites.
You see the Babylonians had defeated Israel 10 years earlier. They had destroyed Israel’s army and had taken a large portion of the population captive, back to Babylon. They were a defeated people. Here, God gives Ezekiel a vision of Israel. As he looks at the bones he notices several things about the bones, he notices several things about God’s people.
I. THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE
1. God’s people were dry. For years, Ezekiel had tried to encourage the captives living in Babylon. For years he had tried to remind them of the power, and the might, and the faithfulness of God. Every time he tried to encourage them he was met with skepticism. They simply replied, “Our bones are dry.”
I believe, my friend, there are several items that can lead to dryness in your life, to dryness in your spiritual life. There are several items that will sap the joy from your life and leave you just trying to make it from day to day.
a. Disobedience will leave your life dry. First, disobedience, unconfessed, undealt-with sin will leave your life dry.
> Psalm 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
Do you remember this verse? This is a verse from Psalm 51, the psalm David wrote describing his condition and praying for God’s forgiveness after he sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. David said, “Lord, since I’ve sinned, You’ve crushed my bones. The joy is gone. The energy is gone from my life. My excitement and enthusiasm for living is gone. I’m just hanging on. God, my sin has done this.”
Let me tell you my friend, unconfessed sin will sap the joy from your life. It will rob you of your energy. It will leave you dry.
But not only will unconfessed sin leave you dry, but discouragement, continual difficulties and setbacks, a loss of hope will leave you beaten as well.
b. Discouragement will leave you dry. – For 10 years now, the Israelites had been captives. At first they thought God was going to work in a great way. At first they thought He was going to rescue them. At first they thought things were going to be hunky dory. Now, the bondage continued day after day. The captivity continued. They saw no hope in sight.
Do you ever feel like that? You try to get ahead. You work on your finances, but it seems like just about the time you are about to get your head above water, an unexpected bill comes your way. The car breaks down, or the refrigerator quits. You’ve almost given up hope of ever getting ahead.
Have you ever given up hope on a friend or a family member? You’ve prayed for that person again and again. You cannot count the nights you have wet your pillow with the tears you shed in prayer over that wayward child or that backslidden friend. You’ve prayed and dreamed and yet it seems that nothing ever improves.
Are you dry today?
Ezekiel looked around and he saw the bones, the people were dry. He also noticed a second item about the bones and that is that they were scattered.
2. God’s people were disjointed – v7. “The bones came together. Bone to bone.” You know, when I’ve seen skeletons on TV and such, most of the times, regardless of how old they are, or how dry they are, those skeletons are usually together for the most part. They may not be in perfect shape, but at least the bones are together.
Not here. The bones, God’s people were disjointed. The people, when they had gotten dry, when they fell into disobedience, when they got discouraged, they became disjointed. In other words, they found themselves heading this way and that. They had so many things going on in their lives, that when they became dry and lost the centralizing reason or purpose for their lives, they started going everywhere and doing everything. They had looked for more hours in the day, so they could do more things, and they found they were meeting themselves coming and going. They forgot what was supposed to be central in their lives, and they came apart.
Do you ever do that? You ever meet yourself coming and going? Do you ever stand there, ½ dressed, wondering if you’re undressing from having just come in, or getting dressed and ready to go out?
Do you remember when we studied together last year, the 40 Days of purpose? Do you remember the first thing we learned was? We learned, “We were created for God.” My friend, when you get dry, when you are disobedient, when you are discouraged, it is easy to become disjointed.
God’s people were dry, they were disjointed, and 1/3ly notice please, they were distracted.
3. God’s people were distracted. V2.
As Ezekiel looked in the valley, he noticed that there were bones all over the place. Here there were some bones. There were some over on that side, and a pile over there. They were everywhere.
When the people went down in the battle, they didn’t go down like soldiers lined up in ranks, standing united to fight a foe. They didn’t go down, standing back to back, covering one another. They didn’t go down, one soldier cradling the head of a wounded companion in his lap, trying to comfort him. No, they were scattered everywhere.
We often see that in God’s kingdom today. There’s one church here, and all they’re thinking about is their church, forgetting about that sister church down the road. Churches start talking about one another. They begin acting like they’re in competition, forgetting that they’re all on the same team, forgetting they’re all part of God’s kingdom.
You know, that sometimes happens within a church as well. Christians get discouraged and become dry. They take their eye off the ball and in their individual lives find themselves running this way and that. Then, they get distracted and after a while they forget they’re fighting an enemy with others. They can sometimes forget there’s a battle going on. One or two, get together over here. Maybe there’s a group here, and one there. A few quit coming and decide to do their own thing.
It’s easy sometimes to get so busy doing church, that we forget who we are. We forget what our mission is. A group of people get busy in one ministry and forget they’re part of something bigger. They forget they’re just one part of the Body of Christ.
Let me ask you, “Have you ever gotten so busy at work, or taking care of the children, or making a living, or whatever, that you found yourself taking your husband or your wife for granted?” You didn’t mean anything by it. You got busy and distracted.
The same thing can happen in a church. Sometimes we simply get so busy that we begin to take one another for granted. We quit taking care of each other like we once did. We quit praying for one another like we once did. We quit calling like we once did. We quit talking like we once did. We get so busy doing stuff that we forget we’re called to work together.
My friend, I want you to know that God has the cure for dryness. He has the cure for disjointed lives and families. He has the cure for distractions. Notice if you will, God’s cure for cry times.
II. THE CURE FOR THE PROBLEM
1. Hear and apply God’s Word – v4
“Preach to them. Let them hear what I say.”
People have been doing that, in prayer meetings and at home, in groups and alone. People have begun hearing and applying God’s Word. In the past few weeks, people have confessed their sins, and gotten rid of the disobedience that caused dryness. Some have recommitted themselves, and gotten rid of their distractions. Some have forgiven folks.
I have heard the bones a rattling. I have heard them coming together. The foot bone that wouldn’t go across the room to greet another has joined with the leg bone that wouldn’t move, and has gone. The leg bone has joined with the knee bone that wouldn’t kneel in prayer, and has prayed. The thighbone that wouldn’t bend has bent to help another and has joined with the backbone to stand and help another. The backbone has joined with a stiff neck, and they have softened. The stiff-rebellious neck has joined with the hard head and they have admitted that perhaps there is more than one way to see a situation. The hard head has joined with the slandering jawbone, and they have held their tongue. The shoulder has begun carrying its cross of discipleship again. The arm has joined with the shoulder to reach out and embrace a brother again.
Oh my friends, in the past couple of weeks, I have heard the rattling of bones, as God has begun a work. I see Him working as I’ve seen new folks coming to be a part of the Body. I have seen Him working as I listened in our prayer meetings. I have seen Him working as He’s pulled people together to share a common vision, a common dream.
Oh my friend, if you haven’t decided to get on board, if you haven’t decided that your first purpose in life is to love and serve God, if you haven’t decided that a relationship with Him is worth any cost, I encourage you to do so today. Jesus said, “I am the Vine. You are the branches. Apart from Me you can do nothing.”
The bones are rattling. You have begun your part in the pursuit of revival. But notice, revival isn’t complete if you stop with your life. Notice if you will, …
2. Pray that God will work.
- 8-10
The Spirit entered them. They became an army again…
CONCLUSION
“A SHORT WHILE BEFORE Dr. J. B. Chapman passed away, he was addressing a gathering of preachers, when he said, “We have reached the place where one plays a handsaw and another gives a “Life’s Story,” gathering a big crowd and we call that revival. No! that is not a revival; that is a farce. Tears, sweat, and blood are the price of a revival, and some of us are not willing to pay the price.” (Herald of Holiness, Quoted in Knight’s Master Book of New Illustrations, 1956. p 569)
