Dry Bones
Can you imagine the bones of the goat you ate last Easter coming to life and crawl from wherever the dogs hid them and, right there before your very eyes connected together forming the skeleton of the very goat? Can you fathom how the “matharigo” (legs and hooves) and the head you boiled for soup to unlock your cousins and uncles’ hangover after a night of indulging over the bonfire coming back to life? That is the question God asked Ezekiel when He took him to the valley of dry bones. Not about the mathagiro and mûtwe (head ) but about the dry bones in the valley. Ezekiel answered in a very smart way by saying, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” He evaded displaying doubt, faithlessness, and perhaps the hopelessness he saw in that valley where hundreds of solders had died leaving behind the evidence of war with their scattered skeletons. God then asks Ezekiel to speak life to the bones, and without hesitation said, “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.” What an amazing prophecy! What a powerful proclamation!
Ezekiel 37:3 I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
The word of God is the true light. It is a beacon, showing us how far we have swam or sailed from the land (God). God is the strong tower and the all knowing God. His word is the soothing balm that heals our spiritual and emotional strains and aches. This scripture of the ‘dry bones’ tells me to remember that God can do anything and everything. Nothing is too big or too small for Him. To God, nothing is hopelessly lost. I am falling in love with the truth that when I am weak, God stands strong for me. When I see death and dry bones, He sees life and vibrancy.
Ezekiel’s obedience to speak to the dry and lifeless bones without asking the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ energizes me do the same to my emotional, psychological, financial, physiological, physical and even sexual dry bones. To do so with only one attitude; the attitude of “believe”. To trust in the powerful and wonder working power of God. To leave God to know how it will all work out for my good. My friend and namesake Njoki directed me to something she had written on facebook last year on this very topic and these words captured me on a profound way; …..” l was thinking of how long these bones had lied in the valley, how some were broken and lost their original shape as they were remains of vultures and dogs, how they were colorless, how ants had made home in them thus covered by soil, and how these parts had scattered all over (kuhurunjuka)……. but all these characteristics didn’t matter when a prophecy fell on them…… Now our lives, some of our body organs, our businesses, our homes, our marriages, relationships, education, health, peace, faith….name them, have died and scattered…It doesn’t matter how long your situation has been dead, rotten and dried”…. Tears welled up in my eyes as these words pierced deep into my heart and roots of hope began to sprout and spread in me. The precious blood of Christ speaks a better word concerning our dry bones. What are your dry bones? Take a pen and paper and write all of them down. Then take your bible, and speak to them using the words that Ezekiel was asked to proclaim in Ezekiel 37: 5-6 and then stand still and wait for God to manifest. Let us test the Lord, and am sure we will stand in awe of His great works. I leave you with words from a song I sing with gladness….
“It’s rewriting my history
It covers me with destiny, yes, it does. It’s making all things right. The precious blood of Christ speaks a better word!”