You Will Live Again
Ezekiel 37:1-14[1]
At some point in life, many of us lose hope. We find that, whether due
to our choices, or due to circumstances beyond our control, the ground has
given way beneath our feet, and we have been swept away to a place where we
feel completely and hopelessly lost. That experience of being lost is part of
life. I think it can feel so hopeless because when you feel lost, really lost
in life, it can seem like you will never find your way again. It’s hard to hope
when fear and sadness, loneliness and uncertainty are your constant companions.
You wonder whether you’ll ever find joy and peace again.
It would seem that the people of Israel felt that way during their time
of exile in Babylon. They were a whole world away from everything that was
“home” to them. After spending not only years but decades in a place that was
very foreign to them, it makes sense that they felt lost and hopeless. That was
the whole reason for Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. As the Lord
speaks to the prophet, he says that the vision of new life was intended to
address the fact that “the whole house of Israel” was saying “Our bones are
dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely” (Ezek. 37:11).
Into this despair, the message that the Lord had for Israel is that
nothing and no one is ever beyond hope! Think about the lesson for today: what
could be more hopeless than dried-out bones. How can bones come back to life again?
What possibility would any of us see for God to bring new life? And yet, before
Ezekiel’s eyes, God gives new life to those lifeless bones. And the message
that God has for the people is that “I will open your graves of exile” (Ezek.
37:12, NLT) and “you will live again” (37:14). It was a dramatic demonstration
that nothing and no one is beyond the hope of new life—not even those who have
felt lost so long they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be home.
It may be dawning on some of us that we’re in a situation similar to
the people of Israel. Extended isolation can push our ability to hold onto hope
past its limits. We don’t know how long this form of “exile” will go on. It may
go on so long that we begin to feel lost; lost to ourselves, lost to life, lost
even to God. But one of my favorite themes of Scripture is that those who feel
lost are never lost to God. In story after story, somehow, God always finds a
way to give them life again. I believe that still holds true today. No matter
how hard it may get, the promise of scripture is that no one is ever beyond
hope. No one is ever lost to God. Even though we may feel lost, we can trust
that we are not lost to God. No matter what our circumstances, we can hold on
to the hope that in his time, and in his way, God will bring new life to us
all. We can hold onto God’s promise that we will live again.
[1] ©2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan
Brehm on 3/29/2020 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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