Week Nineteen - Dry Bones

Thank you to the many who have promised to pray for us during this missionary situation with the Border Agency. We truly believe God is at work. It can still be scary, and we might find ourselves a bit traumatized, but our humanity does not impair God's ability.

This past week I was reading along and came to the story of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. In verse 3, God asks Ezekiel, "Do you believe I can do this?"  That question caught my imagination and caused me to remember God's faithfulness in the past.

Back in 1995, God asked me the same question. Did I believe God could give us a Bible College, a fellowship of missionaries and pastors, and plant 20 churches in the UK? Back then, I said, "Yes." Now, some thirty years later, it is done! 

Today, with our current situation, my answer feels more like that of Ezekiel, "O Lord God, thou knowest." 

Even with that tiny measure of faith, what did Ezekiel see? He saw God raise the dry bones from the valley. Verse seven says, "The bones came together." Oh, how we need this situation with the missionaries and Border Agency to come together! 

And verse ten says they "stood up upon their feet." We certainly need God to raise us up and make us a more robust missionary unit, increase our fellowship and support for each other, and become "an exceeding great army." And maybe that's what He is doing.

Verse 11 Israel thought all was lost, their hope was gone, and they felt broken. But God said, "Ye shall know that I am the Lord when - when? - when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves."

God will lift us up from despair. He will restore hope and cause us to stand. And, verse 14, He will put His "spirit in you, and ye shall live." This is the promise of God.

I stand with Ezekiel today. Can God cause these bones to live? Can He bring life to this unpredictable situation? If I don't have faith to give a humble yet confident "Yes!" May I at least stand and watch God work with a whisper of faith, saying, "O Lord God, thou knowest."

I like what one missionary, Scott McCain said about the situation, "It's a long shot, but so was that stone that was squarely planted in the forehead of Goliath."

Friend, you, too, may be facing a situation totally out of your hands. You may even feel like those dry bones, not hope and feeling all is lost. You may wonder what in the world God could ever do to fix things. But I want to say I have seen God work before, and I know He is working now. He will do the same for you. You might not see it yet but don't lose hope. We serve the God of the impossible. Impossible situations are where He shines best!

Why not join Ezekiel and me in saying, "O Lord God, thou knowest." Then, settle back and watch God breathe life into those dry bones.