“If a man dies will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.” (Job 14:14)
‘Dry bones’ speak of death and hopelessness. They depict a state of no return and abandon. Hardly would someone like to associate himself with such a condition because it looks like a permanent status – a foregone conclusion, as it were; that all is lost. But I have news for you: dry bones can rise again. Why? Because ‘dry bones’ are not your portion.
Child of God, the Lord God Almighty declares that if you have abandoned the race, it is time to get back on track. If you have given up on life because of the obstacles the devil has put on your way, get your act together again. Arise and shine again, for your light has come! Let me tell you this: ‘It is not over until it’s over!’
God never promised that life would be easy. Life has its ups and downs, but we should never give up. Rather we should declare: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)
God is about to mobilise an army of believers to champion this global awakening. No standers-by, no onlookers will be tolerated; for the race is not to the swift but to those who can seize both the time and the chance.
“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water (the Word of God) it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.” (Job 14:7-9)
Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, had died and had been buried. At the height of Lazarus’ illness word had reached Jesus about his ill-health. However, to Jesus it did not seem like an emergency to warrant Him to cut short His stay in Bethany in order to attend to Lazarus’ case. Unfortunately, Lazarus succumbed to the illness before Jesus appeared on the scene on the fourth day. He was welcomed by Martha one of Lazarus’ sisters: ‘Lord, if you were here my brother would not have died.’ (John 11:21)
Apparently, Jesus had delayed his coming to prove a point that He was ‘the Resurrection and the Life.’ (John 11:25) Standing at the entrance to the tomb, despite all fears and doubt from the naysayers, Jesus called forth Lazarus: “Wake up! Come out!” Then He ordered the men to loose him. Lazarus came back to life again.
For thirty-eight years, a paralytic who was stationed at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, had been waiting for an opportunity to jump into the water when it was stirred by an angel, so he could receive his healing. But at each attempt he claimed others got in before he could. When Jesus saw him, something in His Spirit told him that the invalid needed help. He went straight to Him and relieved him of his predicament. “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.” (John 5:5) At once he was cured and he picked up his mat and walked.
For a period of eighteen years, a woman was bent over, stricken by a spirit. Jesus spotted her among the congregation in the temple on a Sabbath day and delivered her. “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” (Luke 13:12) Immediately, she straightened up and praised God. A new life had begun for her.
A forty-year old man, born blind, received his sight after encountering Jesus. Applying wet mud in the man’s eyes Jesus said to him: “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam!” (John 9:7) He returned seeing. Recognised as the beggar who sat at the gate, everybody wondered – chief among them the Pharisees who bombarded him with questions -- about what had happened. Pointing a finger at Jesus, they trumpeted: “We know this man is a sinner. The man replied. “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” (verse 16) “Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!” (verse 25)
All these accounts point to conditions that seemed permanent -without any hope of a reversal. But we see the power of God at work over any circumstance or affliction. They portray God’s ability to provide remedies for issues beyond human strength.
The Children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt for 430 years. God had revealed that to Abraham: “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated 400 years.” (Genesis 15:13) At the appropriate time however, they would be delivered. Under the weight of oppression and hardship, God remembered the Children of Israel when He heard their cry. “God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” (Exodus 2:25) So God chose Moses and directed him. “And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:9-10)
Light at the end of the tunnel
One would have thought that these characters were condemned for life. Not so! “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear …” (Isaiah 59:1) God has a personal interest in His creation and hears their cry whenever they call upon Him for help. Jesus is at the centre of it all. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8b)
Our Jesus “has been given a name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2: 9-11)
