Rodney Burton

Can These Bones Live? Rodney Burton

A valley that is filled with dry bones is a valley that represents what used to be but is no longer. The valley that Ezekiel looked upon was a boneyard of memories and no longer a playground of possibilities. God, however, asked the prophet to imagine the impossible. Ezekiel was asked to envision these bones coming to life once again. The bones that Ezekiel looked upon were very many and they were very dry. In the natural it was an unfinishable human jigsaw puzzle; a collection of broken dreams and divided purpose. Nonetheless, Ezekiel was faced with the alarming question from God, Can these bones live? It would have been much easier had God asked did these bones live, but His question was not a look back but a look forward. Can is a question of future possibilities and not a reflection of what has been. Can these bones live? The amazing picture God painted for His prophet comes to life in a powerful way in the thirty-seventh chapter of the book of Ezekiel. Nestled within his many calls to repentance and the call to the restoration of the covenant we find this incredible picture of what can happen. Can these bones live? Absolutely they can, but it does not happen instantly or automatically. The transformation from a very dry collection of bones to an exceedingly great army involved many steps along the way, and each step enlightens us with an understanding of how God can progress from humanly impossible to spiritually powerful.