Life Restored

Life Restored

Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!” Ezekiel 37:4-5

SOMETIMES WE LOOK ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE of our past and wonder if God can bring it to life again. And sometimes we hope he doesn’t. The idea of our past revisiting us is just too painful. But God is all about restoration, and he promises to restore lives, rebuild city walls, renew minds, and redeem mistakes. He makes all things work together for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). He is the God of resurrection.

Ezekiel looked across Israel and Judah’s past and was commanded to declare the restoring, life-giving breath of God into it. Dry bones would get up and grow flesh again. The raw materials of life would become new. He was then told to speak to the winds to fill those restored bodies with breath and movement and power. The Spirit of God came in power and initiated a new genesis. Life itself became new. What seemed to be dead really wasn’t. What seemed to be lost was made even better than before. That’s the nature—and the promise—of our God.

What losses litter the landscape of your life? Don’t give them up as losses. At any point in your life of faith—and, if you are willing, in many—you can ask God to breathe on the prayers and service you have already given. What looked like the ruins of futility might grow into new structures and forms. What seemed fruitless in the past may be latent seed that can still grow up and produce a great harvest. What seemed to be missed opportunities may appear again as open doors in front of you. Again, that’s the nature—and the promise—of our God.

The life of faith never leaves death in the past and moves on. It never counts bad mistakes and misguided beliefs as wasted time. It doesn’t write off its losses or forget its tears. It looks to the God who breathes new life into old promises and says, “Live.” And it is rewarded with continual, satisfying restoration.

The house of my soul . . . is in ruins. Restore it.