FLIPPING HOUSES & DRY BONES

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

Ezekiel 37:3 NIV

            Flipping houses has long intrigued me. I love watching Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s hit show “Fixer Uppers” and all the other shows where someone takes an old house and breathes new life into it. Even in the small town where I live, people are starting to take a structure down to the studs and do a few do overs. I’m always wowed! The outcome is mind boggling. People who do this seem to have a sixth sense regarding transformation. They see something unique in the bones of the house.

            I’ve seen this valuable asset in the encouragers of life. They can sense the potential in others and they encourage them—whether the individuals are in a valley or just beginning their journey—to step up to the challenge, go the extra mile, and do whatever it takes to live the best life they can.

            In the biblical book of Ezekiel, chapter thirty-seven, God allows Ezekiel to have a vision of dry bones in a valley. We can assume that if there are dry bones, the skeletons are really dead.

He asks Ezekiel can these bones live again? 

            I would have probably been like Ezekiel and shook my head, muttering, I don’t know. Then he tells Ezekiel to start prophesying to the bones, saying listen to what the Lord says.

            But the story is about Israel whose hope is gone. They are the dry bones in this vision.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the

people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and

our hope is gone; we are cut off,’ Ezekiel 37:11 NIV

            The vision is symbolic as God assures Ezekiel that yes indeed, new life can be breathed into Israel. God could see Israel’s potential, just as he can see each person’s potential. He can breathe new life into you, and you, and you. If your hope is gone, he can restore it so don’t give up. And that lost individual you’ve been praying about, God loves them even more than you do and it is not his will that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). Just keep praying and trusting. God can see down to the bones and he can make dry bones live again!