Close your eyes.
Breathe in…
And breathe out.

Let your body settle.
Let the silence speak.

You are in the in-between.
The day after the cross.
The day before the empty tomb.

A valley of waiting.
Of questions.
Of breath held still.

Now listen…

Today’s Passage is Ezekiel 37:1-14 We’ll be listening to this passage just a few verses at a time, leaving room for imagination, reflection, and silence.

Pause. Let your imagination be guided.
You are standing in that valley.
Feel the dryness in the air.
See the bones—scattered, silent, sun-bleached.
Long dead. What emotions are being stirred? Do you imagine this is what the disciples felt as the stone was rolled in front of Jesus’ tomb? What in your life or faith right now feels like a valley of dry bones? Talk to God about it.

³ Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

You don’t know the answer to this question. No one does.
These bones are far too gone, right? But this is the question that lives in every heart that waits in the dark. Is there still hope? Can these bones become alive again?

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

Yes, Lord.
You alone know what is possible in a graveyard.
You alone know how death bends to Your word.

Now…Listen closely as God speaks.

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! ⁵ 

Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord. Let that echo in you.
Hear it not just with your ears, but with your soul.

Even the dead are not beyond God’s voice.
Even dry bones can still listen.

Speak to the dry bones in your life. Tell what seems dead to listen and respond to the word of the Lord.  If necessary, tell your very own soul to wake up and pay attention.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! ⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

What a promise!

God doesn’t just create. He re-creates.
From ruins.
From silence.
From dust and disappointment.

God breathes again where life was lost.
He speaks again where hope was buried.

Let your lungs be full of his breath right now. Breathe in deeply.
Inhale the breath of possibility.
Exhale the fear of finality.

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. ⁸ Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

Hope is rising. Can you feel it? You’re Still waiting. The Promise is Still incomplete. You’re still in the in-between.

Things are being restored…but not yet alive.

Have you grown impatient in the waiting? Have you seen glimmers of the Kingdom? Echoes of new life…but still waiting for resurrection. Listen to the Spirit for a moment here. Allow him to draw you into patient, enduring hope.

Verse 9: Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

When God speaks, when his breath – his spirit goes out, creation and recreation happens.

Spend a few moments in prayer, asking God to breath his life-giving spirit into those things that seem final. Maybe even say Ezekiel’s words out loud, “Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.”

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

From bones to bodies.
From stillness to strength.
From scattered to standing.

God reclaims what was lost.
He restores what was shattered.
He resurrects.

And He isn’t finished.

I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”

Wait here, in this valley. No longer the valley of dry bones, but a valley teeming with the potential for resurrected life.
Let the silence deepen your hope.

For the God who creates is the same God who re-creates.

And the story is not over.