Daily Devotion, February 10, 2021

 

Devotion:

Read Ezekiel 37:1-14. (NRSV)

As I write this in January, I have just seen the green leaves of daffodils emerging from the bulbs within the earth. I wonder, “How do these plants, deep within the darkness of the earth, know that it is time to spring forth and blossom?” The vision invites us into one of God’s holy mysteries.

Ezekiel, in this beloved passage, also invites us into a vision of one of God’s holy mysteries. During a most difficult time in Israel’s history, Ezekiel is reminding the people of God’s incomparable power to give life and life again.

The following four quotes opened my eyes in new ways to see God’s resurrection power and hope within these verses:

 

• “Ezekiel challenges his fellow exiles and generations of his readers to view their circumstances not through their own, limited vision, but through God’s eyes. Can these bones live? Look at them through God’s eyes and with God’s power. And watch bones come to life!!!” Dr. Katheryn Pfisterer Darr
• “God promises not only sinews and flesh and skin, but most importantly, God calls the breath to come from the four winds and breathe life into the slain. This breath is the spirit of God, the life-giving ruach God breathed into the first human creature in the garden, into Lazarus and into Jesus, lifting him up to resurrection life. This breath moves through the world, raising people into new life when all odds are against it.” Dr. James A. Wallace
• “While life would have been enough for the bones, it is not enough for the Deity. The passage grafts life to the knowledge of God.” Three times in this passage in different ways it says, “then you shall know that I am the Lord and have spoken and will act.” Dr. Stephen Breck Reid
• “Ezekial’s vision of the valley of dried bones bears no date because every generation needs to hear in its own time that these bones can live again.” Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Ellie Wiesel

God has the power to give life and to give life again! Not only that, we can know every breath that we breathe comes from God.

Personal Worship Option:

Life-Giving God, forgive us for limiting our views of life by our vision. Open our eyes to your vision of resurrection power even into a valley of dry bones. Let us live seeing new life all around us! Amen.