How many of you have ever experienced a "dry" season in your relationship with God? Maybe you're not feeling as close to Him as you had in the past at this very moment.
The strong bond you once felt is unraveling, and slipping away. What was once flourishing is now wilting and drying up, and you feel that it may be too late to stop it.
If you're familiar with the Old Testament, Israel's relationship with God went through more wet and dry seasons than any of us ever will in our lifetimes. They challenged Him at every turn.
Even so, God never gave up on them, and He won't stop trying with you or I, either. It's not that unusual to periodically slog through a "dry" period during our walk with God.
I know it can be tough, but one can make it through the valley of spiritually dry bones with God's help. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet has a vision of a vast, valley strewn with dead, dry bones.
Here, the bones represented the hopeless state of the dispersed Jews. The bones lying there are "dead." They have long since passed the point of merely drying up (Ezekiel 37:1-2).
Israel had been split up and scattered for so long that any hope of them coming back together and being restored seemed an impossibility. The vision of the dry bones was given to Ezekiel as sign by God (Luke 1:37).
They were in a state of living death. The general feeling was that they were hopelessly separated from God forever. Israel was basically languishing as a nation, their judgment seemingly never-ending (Hosea 6:1).
God, however, restores the bones to life. He resurrects the people from death, and restores them to their own land. And if He can do that for a rebellious nation, God can certainly help restore a sluggish and/or declining faith (John 14:1).
The Christian walk travels not along a smooth, obstacle-free path. Our faith is tested everyday. That, at times, our frail, human spirit is subject to weakening should come as no surprise (Isaiah 40:31).
We may take comfort in knowing that the resurrection and restoration of a struggling faith is always possible through God. Seek revival of your dry, spiritual, bones through sincere prayer today (Psalm 51:12).
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:10; Mark 11:24; Psalm 71:20-21; Psalm 23:3; Jeremiah 24:7
Prayer: Dear God, give me courage when I am afraid, pick me up when I stumble, and strengthen me when I am weak. You are my salvation and source of restoration, on whom I can always depend, amen.
God bless you,
Whitney
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.