The Antidote For Dry Bones
We all know that our bodies need adequate water in order to function properly. On average, up to 60% of an adult human body is water. Newborn babies are About 75% water. But did you know that healthy human bones are nearly one-third water? In order to not become brittle, our bones also need proper hydration.
We say something is bone-dry when it is without a trace of moisture. Think of a riverbed during a drought. All we see is parched and cracked land. Not much grows in those conditions. It lacks nutrients. It lacks health. Let me ask you – Do you feel dry?
Let me ask it again this way – Do you have dry bones? Has life drained you of your joy and your energy? Do you feel as if you are in the desert, with no water or shade anywhere to be found? There is no embarrassment in being dry, having dry bones. Life is hard; it can at times suck you and me dry. We have all been there. I know I have and maybe you are there right now. There are also times when we feel spiritually dry, having spiritual dry bones, the notion of being distant from God.
There are any number of reasons for feeling spiritually dry, but generally speaking, they fall into three categories – unconfessed sin; physical, mental, or emotional pain or trauma; God allowing us to wander in the dry wilderness in order to prepare us for something down the road or before he intervenes in some powerful way. Regardless of the reason, when we feel distant from God, we feel dry, dry all the way to our bones. In those seasons of spiritual dryness, we should follow the wisdom found in Psalm 63:1 – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
What do you do, where do you turn, when you need life breathed back into you? We all have our ways. Some methods we use are healthy, but sadly, others are not so healthy. Some methods help us for days, weeks, maybe even months, while others, they only last a few brief moments. And still others, they just don’t work at all.
The three persons of the Triune God (triune meaning three in one in unity) – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – work hand in hand in all things. They are the perfect trifecta to lead, guide, and direct you in all things. I like to think of the Father as the initiator, Jesus as the implementer, and the Holy Spirit as the energizer.
When Jesus was explaining to His disciples that He would be leaving them, He promised another Helper; the Holy Spirit (see John 14:16, 26). The Greek word for what has been translated in our modern Bibles as Helper, Counselor, Advocate is “Paraclete,” which means “called to one’s side, one’s aid.” Think para-medic, someone who comes to your side to give emergency medical care.
The Spirit has many roles. I want to simply look at one here. One of His roles is to breathe life into you and into me. The Old Testament Hebrew word for God’s Spirit is “ruach” and in the New Testament (Greek) the word is “pneuma,” both meaning wind or breath.
In a vision to Ezekiel in which the prophet sees himself standing in a valley of dry bones, we find these words- Then he (Lord) said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath (ruach) enter you, and you will come to life’” (37:4-5).
Did it work? You be in judge. In v.10 we read- “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
So, today, if you feel spiritually dry, if you have dry bones, continue seeking after God (Psalm 63:1) and ask the Holy Spirit to blow life into you. And keep asking, tomorrow, the next day, and every day after that!
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