Breathe*


 

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says; Come from the four winds, O breath and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”

“I will put my spirit in you and you will live,”  Ezekiel 37:9, 14a

If you’ve never read Ezekiel 37 I highly recommend it. If you have read it, read it again, read it out loud. It’s so powerful. Reading it it’s easy to think how great it would have been to live in that day, to see a valley full of dry bones become standing human beings, with flesh and skin (Ezekiel 37:4-8) and eventually breath (verse 9). Can you imagine it?

Now think about this. How many people do you see each day who look done. Their faces are closed and drawn. If they catch your eye they might smile but does that smile reach their eyes? The words I hear most often at work are “I’m so tired.” We work hard, fair enough but it isn’t strenuous physical labor. The tired of which these ladies speak is not bone and muscle tired; it’s spirit tired. They are, if you will allow me the analogy, out of breath.

The story in Ezekiel 37 is so huge, powerful and moving but it isn’t just for the people of Judah and Israel. It’s for us. Read verse 14 again. “I will put my spirit in you.” That is for us. Jesus came to fulfill the law and leave His precious Holy Spirit with and in us until His return.

Do you ever feel like a sack of dry bones? Do you feel out of breath? I know I do. It’s awful but it doesn’t have to become who we are. We do not need to be breathless dry bones. We have an answer, God’s Holy Spirit. “I will put my spirit in you and you will live.” (emphasis mine) You will live. Life is hard but God is faithful. He provides breath and strength for us when ours is depleted in ways that to us, seem beyond repair.

“Come from the four winds and breathe…..”

Operating in our own strength is an impossible battle. We will surely end up like those people in the valley, an old pile of dry bones. Oh we’ll walk around and smile and nod at people all the while feeling the dust, hearing the creaks. In that state we are no good to ourselves or anyone else. But, thanks be to God, His Word restores our breath. It restores our very lives. 

“Come from the four winds and breathe…..”

*(there is a song by Chris Tomlin, Awake My Soul that comes from these same verses. May I suggest that you listen to it? It is so powerful and very compelling.)

 

 

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