In my childhood days, we lived in beautiful place surrounded by mountains. Though the commute was really difficult and the hair pin curves we had to take to reach the top made me sick to my stomach, the view from the top was just worth the trouble. There was a place at the top of the mountains where all the vehicles will stop and take the time to enjoy the view of the valley. And every time we were there, I remember telling my mom ” The place we came from never looked like this down there, but definitely is beautiful from up here”. Isn’t it so true in our lives too? The view of the valleys from mountain tops are always greener and lush but when you are in one of those valleys, the view is not much interesting down there.
That is exactly what we see in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37:1-14. God placed the prophet Ezekiel down in the valley of dry bones. He let the prophet understand the situation thoroughly by letting him walk through. And the view was not appealing down there. The silence and the deadness of the valley might have created an atmosphere of hopelessness in the heart of the prophet too. When God asked the prophet “Will these dry bones live?”, he said a safe answer ” God, you know that”. In my imagination, the prophet might have thought ” All I see down here is valley of dry bones, but the view might be different from up there, Lord! ”
We see God asking the prophet to prophesy to these dry bones and Ezekiel prophesied unto them just as the way God commanded. There was a big noise and a shaking..all those dry bones came together..bone to bone. Sinews, flesh and skin came upon them. Again God asked the prophet to prophesy to the wind to breathe upon those bones and they lived. My favorite verse in this chapter is the last part of 10th verse which says “they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
Where does this exceeding army come from? All this time, if the prophet could see only a valley of dry bones, looking from above, all what God could see was an exceeding great army. View from up there is completely different , my dear friend. Sometimes we are placed in valleys like this..to speak life into the dry bones and make them into an exceeding army. Can God do this without our help.? Yes for sure. But He wants to use you and me in those valleys. God is looking for people to prophesy to the hopelessness around and fulfill the vision that He has in mind so that the view from the valley and from the mountain top are the same.
Today, make yourself available to speak life in those valleys. With our naked eyes, all we might see is hopelessness. Proclaim God’s view and see it all coming together as one great master plan. Valleys turn beautiful if you choose to speak life and you will see His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God bless,
Rani John
Redeemed Ministries
Six Measures Of Barley 