Hard Hearts and Dry Bones

“I really don’t want to talk about faith or God!” A friend once responded when our conversation drew near the topic. “Whenever that’s the topic there seems to be no argument,” He continued.

True enough, we often meet people with the same view as my friend. Most of them would rather talk about the weather, the up coming sale or what’s new on television than who is God and what His purpose in our life is. They would readily avoid things that they know would lead them to a realization that would give them a 180 degree turn back to our Creator. These would lead us to a question: why?

I am not a psychologist or a sociologist to give a general fact, but in the case of my friend, I can clearly see that it is merely the fear of seeing the error of his chosen path that keeps him from knowing God. It is refusing to accept what God really wanted for his life and instead, enjoy the pleasures that HE KNOWS is something unacceptable to the Creator. Thus, his tendency is to avoid anything that would lead him to discover how much he was missing with God by asking skeptical questions or ignoring the topic completely.

Yet for all we know, people like my friend have all the potential to be a great leader in church. Some would have the talent that would help move mountains in the ministry. Yes, they sometimes seem better than us. So what do we do we do about it?

An error that I have learned in dealing with that friend of mine is not to force any Christian fact. It is like forcing your head on an untrained lion’s mouth. He’ll bite back in anger. Another one is to ask questions that would dig deep into his core beliefs as he would tend to hide in his shell. So what would be a better way?

EZEKIEL’S WAY

An Adventist Review Online article called “Dry Bones and Living Souls” seeks to answer such questions by allowing us to look back at the time of Ezekiel.

During Ezekiel’s time, Israel had been under captivity. Most of them have become hopeless to the point of losing faith on and being skeptical with God. It was then that God took Ezekiel on a valley of dry bones. (verse can be found in Ezekiel 37: 1-10)

No questions asked, the bones pertain to death and decay – “dead men walking—alive, but spiritually dead; awake, yet in carnal slumber” as blatantly mentioned in the article.

1. Trust God
What really makes you wonder is the Ezekiel’s view on the matter. While completely surrounded by dry bones, God asked him if the bones would live. Without a single doubt, the prophet replied “O Lord God, thou knowest.”

Ezekiel had nothing to say with the matter. It was like seeing him holding up both hands saying “God it’s you’re call not mine! You’re the mighty one not me!” Dry bones or not, we must keep in mind that it is God who can touch hearts and turn heads, not us. We must refrain from that “shortsighted humanity” wherein we close the doors on people once they rejected God. We must trust God to know what we would say or do. Remember, we don’t call the shots, we’re just the guns.

2. “Prophesy upon these bones”
Ezekiel was then asked by God to prophesy upon the bones. God gave him the exact words. Lo and behold, life came into the bones.

After trusting God to know what would happen, respond to His bidding. Don’t give up on talking to the person. Ask God what to say. He’ll tell you what to say or how to prophesy.

Again, we are the tools. We are the disciples. God directs. So the whole process is God’s call. Just imagine the scene after Ezekiel prophesied. So many things happened in the process. A loud noise and shaking, bones came together, sinews and flesh came, and lastly, skin covered the structure. It was a process that God willed to form after Ezekiel followed the command.

The same would happen to us, God would direct the words and would tell you when to stop. Afterwards, you just wait and you will be surprised with what will happen to the bones.

3. “Prophesy unto the wind”
So the bones came together and became flesh. But imagine the prophet’s surprise when he discovers that the flesh was not moving. God then tells him to “prophesy unto the wind”

Adventist Review Online article clearly identifies the wind as the Holy Spirit. It also goes further to point out that all evangelistic efforts would be futile had the converting power of the Holy Spirit been forgotten. True enough, nothing would come out of any work of God without the Holy Spirit to guide us and to touch the people we invite to God. The Holy Spirit is an essential ingredient in the mix to make any dry bones come to life.

Following Ezekiel’s response to God could no doubt be effective in convincing people to go back to God. The results were clearly staggering. At the end, a whole army was standing in front of Ezekiel ready to do battle.

I could not wait to try such approach to my friend. If God could make dry bones into an army during Ezekiel’s time, why not on ours?