Can These Bones Live?

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’” (Ezekiel 37.1-3, NKJV)

I finished The Calvary Road last night. No, that doesn’t mean I have died and gone to be with the Lord–only that I finished a book we have been reading together as a congregation. It’s a book about revival. But revival begins at the place of personal dissatisfaction. The author, Roy Hession, points out that revival is not a green valley getting greener, but a valley full of dry bones being made to live again. One must come to the place of acknowledging that his or her spirituality has become a valley of dry bones. As long as we deny the obvious, revival cannot come. As long as we pretend that our works of flesh are the work of God, revival cannot come. As long as we say our valley of dry bones is paradise, God will let us go on believing it…and deceiving ourselves. It isn’t until we acknowledge the drought and death that is all around us that resurrection life can come.

It is easy for us to complain about the direction of our culture. I believe we are living in days akin to those in the book of Judges, where everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Our leaders have lost their way because they have plotted their course without the compass of God’s Word. Good politics may help restrain the lawlessness of the age, but it will never bring about the heart change that is necessary to save our nation. Only a widespread spiritual revival can do that. But where does it begin? 2 Chronicles 7.14 makes it clear that the healing of the land starts with the people of God humbling themselves.

As we confess that our experience of God has become a valley of dry bones, then the conditions exist where spiritual life can be restored. As we acknowledge that we are powerless to save ourselves, then we open the door for I AM. His grace rains down upon the dry bones that confess their dryness and fervently call out to God, “Make these dry bones live!”

Are you spiritually dry today? Have your spiritual vitality and passion become the drought of summer? Then you are a fit candidate for the grace of God that revives the heart and makes dry bones live!