Mon.’s Devo - The Valley of Dry Bones

Read: Ezekiel 37:1-38:23; James 1:19-2:17; Psalm 117:1-2; Proverbs 28:1 God led Ezekiel in the spirit to a valley filled with dry and scattered bones. He asked Ezekiel if the bones could become living people again. Ezekiel told God only He knew that answer. So God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and tell them that God was going to put life and breath into them again. He was going to put flesh and muscles on them and cover them with skin. God’s breath would give them life. So as Ezekiel spoke this, the bones responded by coming together and forming complete skeletons, then forming muscles and flesh but they still had no breath. God told him to tell the winds to come and breathe into the bones, that they might come to life, and they did. They became a great army. *** God told Ezekiel that these bones represented the people of Israel. They were lifeless and had lost hope for their nation. Ezekiel was to tell them that God would bring them back to the land of Israel and when this happens, he will but His Sprit in them and they will live again. Then they would know that He is the Lord. *** Ezekiel was to take a piece of wood and carve the words of Judah and its southern tribes. He was to take another and it was to represent Ephraim and the northern tribes of Israel. God was going to take the two sticks and join them as one nation. They would never again pollute themselves with idols and vile images and rebellion. God will save them and give them one king to rule over them. God would cleanse them and they would be his people and He would be their God. *** David will be their king and shepherd and they will obey his regulations and keep his decrees. They will live for generation after generation and David will be their prince forever. God will make a covenant of peace with them and increase their numbers and put his Temple among them forever. God will live among them and be their God and they will be his people. *** God told Ezekiel to face Gog of the land of Magog. Magog was the prince who ruled the nation of Meshech and Tubal. He was to tell them that God was their enemy and he will lead them out with their armies. Persia, Ethiopia and Libya will join them along with the armies of Beth-togarmah from the north. They will come to attack Israel and plunder it. God said that they will cover the land of Israel like a cloud but God’s holiness would be displayed. His fury would shake in the land of Israel and everything alive would feel it. God would come and throw down the mountains and crumble the cliffs. Walls will fall down. They will turn their swords against each other and their armies would die with disease and blood shed. God would rain down hailstones and fire and sulfur like he did on Sodom and Gomorrah. They will know that God is the Lord. *** James tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get anger. He explains that human anger does not produce God’s righteousness. If we look carefully into God’s law it will set us free. We can’t claim to be godly and not control our tongue. Pure and real godliness means we care for the lowly and we refuse to let the world corrupt us. *** We cannot treat the rich more honorably than the poor. We must treat everyone the same and love others as we love ourselves. We will be judged according to how we judged others and we will receive the mercy we have given. By showing mercy, we are living out our faith. *** Lord, we pray your life and breath into the hopeless of our nation. We say that life will come from our brokenness and God’s spirit will revive us again.