Then God said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Ezekiel 31:9-10

On long out of town bus trips, in my teen years, it was not unusual for someone to start singing, *“The toe bone connected to the foot bone, Foot bone connected to the heel bone, Heel bone connected to the ankle bone, Ankle bone connected to the leg bone.” Soon the whole bus load of kids, were singing about bones attaching to each other, ending with, “Now, hear the word of the Lord.”

I have to admit, I really did not know the biblical story behind the music until much later.

In **Ezekiel’s vision, he is taken to a barren plain, where he walks back and forth across dried and brittle bones. There is nothing that resembles life in these bones. This is not the place one goes to look for hope, nor the place one visits to be reassured of the future.

No, in this valley of dried bones only death speaks clearly, of disaster, broken dreams, and lost hope. The sheer magnitude of the number is overwhelming to Ezekiel. Bones left to dry, scattered by wild animals and the winds. Bones without burial, no one left to even cover bodies of those lost. It is a desolate place. Looking at those dried bones, one knows there is no future.

As he walks among those bones, Ezekiel is startled by the question, “Mortal, can these bones live? “ If I were Ezekiel, I would have answered, “No.” And I would have wondered at the logic of the question. Ezekiel on the other hand, has experienced some of these visions before. Knowing that God’s mind does not work the way his does, he hedged his response saying, “O Lord God, you know.” 

My preemie daughter was in the neonatal unit, when her heart stopped. I watched her heart monitor in fear, as a nurse performed CPR. Every time her nurse paused, my daughter’s heart rate dropped to zero. It seemed to go on forever, zero to 40 then down to zero again. Hospital staff raced to her when a code blue was called. Two nurses quickly came to stand on either side of me. All the while, her  heart monitor kept bouncing from zero to forty, and back again. It felt like an eternity,  before my daughter’s heart started beating again.

Ezekiel’s vision of bleached, dry scattered bones, touches our own despair. Can these bones live? It’s the question of every aching heart broken by disaster, devastating loss, or buried in grief. Will there ever be joy again? How can I possibly go on, when my life is ruined, and I’ve lost everything of value to me? To live without hope, is to live in a valley called, “Never.”

Ezekiel’s response to the question was, “Oh Lord God, you know.” God knows the way out of trauma. God knows the way that leads to life. God knows that even while  grief and sorrow, are having their day, seeds of new life are being planted.

Ezekiel prophesies to the bones, then sees them rise up, and the breath of life restored. In his vision, he saw a promise of a future, he thought had been lost forever.

God is in the business of bringing life to broken places, opening new doors where old doors have closed. God sees life where we do not. God sees hidden promise and  hope, when we are giving up.  God can take our deepest shame and redeem it, and rebuild a shattered life.

Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones, is a reminder for moments when our life is a mess, our world has fallen apart, and we simply do not know where to turn . . . There is hope. It’s the Hope which comes from our faithful God, who loves us through our harshest moments, and is determined to breathe new life into our dry, bleached and brittle bones.

* The Story and lyrics behind “Dem Bones” is found here. 

**The Full story about the Valley of Dry Bones is found here in Ezekiel 37:1-14.