Lenten Reader | Day 16

March 22nd, 2025

Life Through Obedience

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

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.’”

Ezekiel 37:9-14

I confess I do not know a lot about the book of Ezekiel. It is one of the major prophets but not one often used for sermons and certainly not for devotional purposes. The above verses are a prophecy about the nation of Israel and written for them, not for us. If this is the case, what can I, as a follower of Christ in 2025, gain from the words of the Lord as given to Ezekiel?

The people of Israel were in a very difficult situation. They had been exiled in a foreign land. But worse than that, they were in a spiritual desert – depicted in the vision of the valley of dry bones. In verse 10 breath would come into them so they would live. I think the most important details to notice are Ezekiel’s obedience and the repeated, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.” When these things come to pass, Israel will know the Lord has spoken and done it.

Before any of us found a new life in Christ, we were in a place of desperation without hope. Some of us may have wondered if there was any chance of life for us with our dry brittle spiritual situation. But as the Lord showed the prophet there is hope. In Ezekiel’s vision the bones came together – sinews and skin were added – but there was no life until the Spirit of God breathed into them.

Here we are with our bones, sinews and skin, walking into church with our Bibles or phone apps but still without spiritual life until we ask the God of the universe for forgiveness and begin a relationship with the Spirit of God guiding us. In summary, focus on Ezekiel’s obedience to hearing “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.” We should respond in the same manner.

Karen Skillings