When Hope Feels Lost - Lent Week 5 Series

Come to Me: When Hope Feels Lost

Ezekiel 37:1–6, 11–14 ~ John 11:17–27, 32–44

There are seasons in life when hope feels like it has slipped through our fingers. We don’t plan for those seasons. They arrive quietly, or suddenly, or slowly over time, and before we realize it, we’re standing in a place we never expected to be.

Sometimes it’s a diagnosis that changes everything, or a relationship that’s worn thin, or the slow erosion of joy…the kind of grief and exhaustion that makes holding everything together feel impossible.

And sometimes it’s not one big thing at all…it’s the accumulation of a hundred small disappointments that leave us feeling brittle, tired, and unsure of where God is in the middle of it all.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent invites us to stand in that honest place. Not pretending everything is fine. Not rushing to Easter joy. Not skipping over the ache.

Lent gives us permission to name the places where hope feels lost. And into that space, Scripture gives us two powerful stories: a valley full of dry bones, and a tomb sealed by a stone. Two places where life seems impossible. Two places where God shows up.

Ezekiel 37:1–6

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 led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and 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, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel is led by God into a valley—a place of devastation. Bones scattered everywhere. Not just dead bodies, but long-dead bodies. Sun-bleached, brittle, forgotten.

This is not a battlefield waiting for healing. This is a graveyard of dreams. A place where hope has been dead for a long time. And God asks Ezekiel a question that feels almost cruel: “Mortal, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel gives the only honest answer he can: “O Lord God, you know.” Not yes. Not no. Just… “God, only you know.”

That’s the prayer of someone who has run out of answers. Someone who has seen too much. Someone who doesn’t have the energy to pretend anymore.

Maybe you’ve prayed that prayer. “God, I don’t know what to do.” “God, I don’t know how to fix this.” “God, I don’t know how to keep going.” “God… only you know.”

And God doesn’t rebuke Ezekiel for his uncertainty. God doesn’t demand optimism. God simply invites him to speak…to prophesy…to declare life in a place where life seems impossible.

[Ezekiel 37:11–14]

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Israel says, “Our bones are dried up. Our hope is gone.” And God responds, “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”

This is not a story about people who were rebellious. It’s a story about people who were exhausted. People who had lost hope. People who felt cut off. And God meets them there.

Now we turn to John 11, where another story of despair unfolds. A story of sisters who send word to Jesus because their brother is sick. A story of waiting. A story of disappointment. A story of grief.

[John 11:17–27]

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.