Hope To The Hopeless

“Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (Eze 37:11-12 AV)

The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is familiar to most.  If not for the specific verses found there, the event is well known.  It is known as the vision of the valley of dry bones.  The LORD takes the prophet to a valley wherein dried human bones of a multitude lay white and bleached in the sun.  Many years have passed, and the only remaining evidence of human life was the bones laying there, lifeless and long past hope.  Gone are the adornments of the flesh and flesh itself.  All that lay there were the bones of human beings lost decades or centuries earlier.  The desert dryness preserving the bones from rot and the heat keeping wildlife from eating the bones, they lie there still and permanent.  For there to be any hope of life from these bones would be beyond reasonable resurrection.  The LORD commands the prophet to speak to the bones.  First, to cover them in flesh.  Again, he is commanded to speak to them, which brings wind and the breath of life.  The implication is clear.  As the LORD is able to bring back dry bones to life, so too can He bring Israel back from utter hopelessness.  The prophet is shown this vision so he can preach hope to those without it.

This passage has many encouraging applications.  First, it is encouraging to know that when we feel the same, we are not alone.  Many have gotten to this point.  Israel had been taken away into captivity.  They were exiled.  There was one generation who had grown up in this condition, and not until the end of their lives did they know freedom.  Many perished in exile.  The hope of which Israel speaks is national, and not personal hope.  They did not see how they would ever be a nation again.  Second, it is good to know that even though our circumstances may be self-inflicted, there is hope.  Israel did this to themselves.  They turned their back on God, so He reciprocated.  God treated Israel as Israel treated Him.  Many centuries prior, the LORD made a covenant with Israel through the person of Abraham.  This He did knowing the future choice to come.  God would not turn His back on His promises.  Even if Israel felt that all hope was lost, it wasn’t.  God is a faithful God.  He will not take His promises back.  Third, things are not as dire as they seem.  Not when God is involved.  The bleached bones had no hope of living again.  None!  In this hopelessness, Israel was correct.  There was no hope without a miraculous, divinely sent resurrection. 

I know what it means to gaze upon human bones in the middle of the wilderness.  One spring while walking in the turkey woods, I stumbled across human remains.  All that remained were bleached bones and clothing.  There was nothing else remaining.  If someone had told me they could resurrect those bones to the person that once possessed them, I would have thought that person crazy.  There would be no way those bones would ever see life again.  This is exactly how Israel felt.  This is exactly how we feel from time to time.  Isn’t it ironic that when our trial or correction is over, and life returns, we remember not the entire event?  When the next severe hardship comes, we lose all hope once again.  This is our cycle.  At least for a good length of time.  Once we learn that God can bring us out of the worst of all circumstances, we finally learn to relax and trust the LORD.  Israel had lost all hope.  But Israel’s hopelessness did not shorten the hand of God.  God restored them.  They are now in Palestine.  They are back in their land.  Jesus will return, and the promises to Abraham and David will come to pass.  Praise the LORD that our hopelessness does not hinder the ability of God to grant miracles.