The Valley

When we first arrived in this valley, the lush landscape rose around us. Now it is a desert floor. The wind blows the sand, and it whistles as it hits usthe remains of a people that used to be a vast army, but we waged a battle against the Lord. Then we craved to return to the Lord, but it was too late for me and the vast army of bones around me. We laid here for years with the hot sun bleaching our bones, taking every ounce of water out of us. We had given up the identity God had given us by forsaking His Word and turning from Him. Now, no hope existed for us. We were forgotten, left to our own destruction for forsaking our God. Or so I thought. One day a man walked into the valley where we lay. He kicked and scattered bits of me and many others as he waded back and forth, knee-deep in our bones. Anticipation filled the air: the man was conversing with GodGod asked if it were possible for us to live again. Could it be? Had God remembered us? Suddenly, the man began to prophesy that the Lord would cause us to live again. Our scattered bones rattled around, pouring off the desert sand we had been buried in, coming together to form perfect skeletons on the valley floor. Then, muscles and ligaments formed tightly onto our frames. Organs suspended in their rightful places. Skin enveloped each of us, completing our forms. I sat there fully made, but not yet alive. I waited. The Lord was not done yet. The prophet spoke again, prophesying that the Lord would now give us breath. And with that, I took my first breath. I looked at those around me, who had once fought against the Lord but whose faces now had my same awe and joy. The Messiah has come. Fully God and fully human, Jesus came to dwell among His people. He did what none of us could do; He paid for our sin with His own death, and He conquered death when He rose again. His Spirit brings us from death to life. Kyleah Brower Because of Israel’s rebellion against God, He let them go their own way to destruction. But He didn’t leave them there. He came to dwell among us. How does this story give you hope? How is it possible for us to be made alive (Romans 8:10-11; 10:9-11)? Check out our “Know Jesus” page for more. Then he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I replied, Lord God, only you know. Ezekiel 37:3 (CSB)

Read Verses:

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:10-11