PUTTING THE ZEAL BACK INTO EZEKIEL

“PUTTING THE ZEAL BACK INTO EZEKIEL”

EZEKIEL 37:1-14

37:1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.

3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."

10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

11 Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.'

12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.

14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD.

There are usually two reasons why people fail. Some people fail because they let doubt and despair get the best of them. They convince themselves that there’s nothing they can do that will make the situation better. So, they give up. That actually happens a lot these days.

That’s because every time you turn the television on the news is either sad or bad or a little bit of both. These days you have to worry about bird flu and mad cow disease, hurricanes and global warming, high cholesterol and even higher gas prices. Throw in the problems that you have to deal with at work, at home and at school and you could easily be overwhelmed with doubt and despair. You might even end up looking at things the way a little girl one day. It all started when the little girl announced that she wanted to learn how to play the violin. The mother thought it was a wonderful idea but wanted to make sure the little girl took the commitment seriously. So, the mother explained to her that it was going to cost a lot of money to rent the violin and pay for the weekly lessons. The mother then went on to say, “This is going to mean a lot of hard work. There may be times when you’ll feel like giving up. There may be times when you’ll wonder if it’s really worth it, but I want you to hang in there and keep on trying.” At that point the little girl let out a big sigh. “I know,” she said, “It will be just like marriage, right mom?”

Some people fail because they let doubt and despair get the best of them. They convince themselves that there’s nothing they can do to make the situation better. So, they give up.

That’s the way Ezekiel probably felt when he saw that Valley of Dry Bones. In the vision that Ezekiel had God asked him a simple question. “Son of man, can these bones live again?” It was a simple yes or no question. Instead of answering the question though Ezekiel basically shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know LORD. Why are you asking me?”

That’s the way most people felt at the time. The reason for all that doubt and despair was simple. The people of Israel were living in the aftermath of a huge national catastrophe. The Babylonians had just destroyed Jerusalem and sent most of the people off to live in exile. It was a traumatic time for the people of Israel. They were convinced that God had abandoned them and that they were never going to see their homes again. That doubt and despair is there in the answer that Ezekiel gave when God asked him if the dry bones could live again. “I don’t know LORD. Why are you asking me?”

Do those words sound familiar? That’s what you say when a problem gets the best of you. That’s what you say when you feel like giving up. That’s the way Ezekiel felt. What Ezekiel didn’t know though was that God wasn’t about to let him give up. So, instead of giving Ezekiel a little sympathy, God gave him a little bit of a shove. God ordered Ezekiel to stand up and command the dry bones to come together. Then God ordered Ezekiel to summon the winds to come from the four corners of the earth and put the breathe of life back into the dry bones.

God didn’t tackle the problem for Ezekiel. God made Ezekiel do it. Maybe that was God’s way of boosting Ezekiel’s confidence a little. Maybe it was God’s way of saying “Yes you can Ezekiel. You can do this.” By making him do it God put the zeal back into Ezekiel.

Some people fail because doubt and despair get the best of them. So they give up and pray that God will take care of the problem for them. Maybe you do that yourself from time to time. Maybe you’re doing that with a problem right now. If you are then you better brace yourself because there’s a good chance that you’re going to get the same kind of shove that Ezekiel got that day. Why? Because God isn’t interested in what you think you can’t do. God is only interested in what you can do.

That’s why I like the story about the college student who did something a little unusual when the time came to take an exam. The exam was for a class in advanced logic. Now this class was known for being very difficult. So, the professor decided to give the students a break. A couple of days before the exam he told them that they could bring with them as much information as they could fit on an 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet of paper. Naturally, everyone crammed as many notes as they could onto their sheet of paper; everyone that is except this one student. He took a different approach. When the time came to take the exam he put his blank sheet of paper on the floor in front of his desk. He then invited a Ph.D. student with a Masters degree in logic to stand on the piece of paper and take the exam for him. He was the only one in the class who got an A.

God doesn’t want you fail because you underestimate yourself.

Some people fail because they let doubt and despair get the best of them. So, they give up and pray that God will take care of the problem for them. Other people fail because they go to the opposite extreme. They convince themselves that they don’t need any help from anyone including God. Their pride gets the best of them and they convince themselves that they don’t need God’s wisdom or guidance.

That attitude can also get you into a lot of trouble though. You begin to think that you’re smarter than you really are and instead of solving the problem you only make it worse. You can see that attitude in a woman whose husband was an officer in the army. Shortly after World War II ended the officer was sent to Japan. His wife went to live with him there. The country of course was in ruins. The unemployment rate was almost 60%. So, everyday people came to the woman’s door looking for work. One man said that he could do wonders for the woman’s garden if she only gave him a chance. Well, the woman hired the man even though he didn’t speak a word of English. She communicated with him by drawing pictures on a pad of paper. She told him where to plant, what to plant and when to plant. The man did exactly as he was told. After a while though, the woman began to realize that the man was a very talented gardener. So, she stopped telling him what to do. That’s when her garden really began to blossom. Several months later the woman had a truly spectacular garden. Then one day the man showed up for work with an interpreter. The interpreter explained to the woman that the man was going back to his old job and would not be able to work for her any longer. When the woman asked what his old job was the interpreter smiled and said, “He’s a professor of horticulture at the University of Tokyo.”

Sometime people fail because their pride gets the best of them. They convince themselves that they can handle the problem without any help from God at all. One of the ways you can avoid that attitude is by remembering the ASAP principle. Usually ASAP means you want something done “as soon as possible.” When it comes to faith though ASAP is a reminder to “always say a prayer.” Before you tackle a problem always say a prayer. That way instead of tackling the problem by yourself, you’ll tackle it with God’s help; with God’s wisdom and the courage that comes from knowing that God is with you.

When you tackle a problem with God’s help you can do amazing things. Ezekiel made the dry bones come back to life. In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman shares another amazing story. It’s another story that shows you what can do when you tackle a problem with God’s help. The story is about an American soldier who found himself hunkered down in a rice paddy during the Vietnam War. His platoon was engaged in a heated battle with the Vietcong who were hiding in the jungle on the far side of the rice paddy. The bullets were flying everywhere when all of a sudden six Buddhist monks started walking across a levee in the middle of the rice paddy. The soldier watched as the monks walked directly into the line of fire. They didn’t wave their arms or plead with the enemies to stop shooting. Instead they calmly walked across the levee without looking to the right or the left. Afterwards, the soldier wrote, “It was really strange because nobody shot at ‘em. And after they walked over the beam, suddenly all the fight was out of me. It just didn’t feel like I wanted to this anymore, at least not that day. It must have been that way for everybody, because everybody quit. We just stopped fighting.”

It was true for Ezekiel when he found himself in that valley full of dry bones. It was true for those six Buddhist monks and it’s also true for you and the problem that you face. By yourself you will not succeed. With God’s help you will not fail. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

June 2, 2006 – Pentecost Sunday