The Valley of Hope
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A time of Lament
A time of Lament
INTRO
Recently my wife and I were praying one morning and we were prompted to just pray for people that were hurting.
And when we began to list the people just in our family that are or were hurting it was so many.
Dealing with the grief of losing my papa,
we have family members who are leaving jobs, which can be scary and cause lots of sleepless nights
we have those who are divorced and deal with the pains of missing holidays with their children,
Then we started to focus on friends and people we rub shoulders with daily and that also seems like so many.
From cancer to breakups, and it is not like those are on the same level, but they both cause pain and grief.
Wondering what to do with a child who has turned away from the Lord.
Friends who received terrible news that they lost the baby.
losing a limb,
Losing a parent or close family member.
We know what it is like to lament right.
You don’t have to be taught how to lament anything.
You don’t need someone to show you how to be sad.
I don’t need anyone to show me how to hurt.
I don’t need grief for dummies, I have the scars to show it.
We get it.
But what we do need to be taught is how to get back up, brush off the dirt and continue to move forward.
*That this isn’t all meaningless.
*That my pain does mean something.
You know it is easy to push away those feelings of lament.
I am going to ask you this morning that you don’t.
I am going to ask you today that you feel the lament that is happening in your world.
No need to man-up
We aren’t rubbing dirt in it, which has always baffled me, because I don’t want an infection.
No this morning I want us to stay in this moment for just a little bit longer.
Because our pain and our hurt is there for a reason.
It show the absolute need of a savior.
In the wise words of John Piper from the video “You pain is not meaningless.”
It can’t be, if it was then what would be the point?
What if I told you today that your pain was totally meaningful.
Some of you have come in here today feeling hopeless, and overwhelmed.
I’m glad you are here brother and sister.
Because you came to the right place.
As Bryan Moak said last week, our churches needs to stop acting like country clubs and start looking more like hospitals.
This isn’t a place to come and sip on our coffee, pretend everything is fine, smile, nod and agree, and go back to your home— unmotivated and unchanged.
That is going to mean that we actually have to start sharing our pains, our burdens and our grief.
We need to have a time of lament.
When the whole church is hurting, because they are carrying the burden of a fellow brother or sister in Christ, we get a picture of the Gospel.
If you came here today hurting and longing for hope, you came to the right place.
If you came to find healing and joy you came to the right place.
If you came here today tired, and hungry for the Lord—you are in the right place and you can even relate to our passage of scripture today.
You know how the Israelites felt.
If you have your Bibles this morning I would love it if you joined me in Ezekiel 37.
Let us pray as we begin this morning
PRAY
As we jump into this text we first must look at a couple of things.
First off we know that Ezekiel is the author of this book and it is written based off of his life.
It is an autobiography if you will.
It is written durning a very significant time in Israel’s history.
Ezekiel found himself present durning the time of the fall of Jerusalem when King Nebuchadnezzar came in from Babylon and destroyed this city.
We would see men like Daniel being sent away in exile to Babylon as well as many others were taken from their home.
Along with this would be the fall of the temple.
With the destruction of the temple the Israelites found themselves lost, broken, desperate, and Godless.
I am sure that you know what it feels like to be at a lost.
We know what it feels like to be broken and desperate.
The land that was promised to the Israelites is now a waste land.
They came out of Egypt for this?
WHERE WAS GOD?!?
The fall of Jerusalem was about judgement coming to Israel.
Through out the book of Ezekiel you can read about this and see it first hand as in the first half of the book Ezekiel talks pretty openly about how judgement is coming and they need to turn from their evil ways.
They don’t and they get exiled.
And the second half of the book is about hope and restoration for Israel.
That while they may feel that God has forgotten them, He has not.
Why are we talking about Israel because in this passage Israel is the bones.
When you see bones— know that it is in reference to Israel.
We will get there but I want to tell you on the front end because it is important to know the context of what is happening here.
Through out this book God is giving Ezekiel a ton of these visions but none are more memorable then the valley of dry bones.
As Ezekiel would say in verse 1
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.
The hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel.
This means that Ezekiel wasn’t going to just get a vision from God but it was going to be intense.
And God brings Ezekiel to this valley— It is in a vision, this isn’t a valley we can go visit.
But in this valley it is full of bones.
Dead, dry, and lifeless bones.
Here is what I have found interesting in reading the passage.
That when God seems to be absent from what is happening in the passage, he is 100% workin all things out for his glory.
So even in our despair God is working.
Even in Despair God is Working
Even in Despair God is Working
Explain
Let’s pick up in verse 2.
And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon 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.”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
The scene that is set up for Ezekiel seems bleak.
It is a valley of dry bones.
That term very dry means that these bones had been around for a long time.
They were picked clean— nothing was left on the bones.
Meaning that life could not and would not be possible.
So when God asked Ezekiel— SON OF MAN— Can these bones live?
It seems like a trick questions.
It seems a little cra cra.
There is no way that these bones can live.
Sure Ezekiel has heard the stories of Elijah and Elisha both bringing a boy back.
God can bring back a corpses but that was only shortly after death.
Ezekiel knew that God could, but how would he do it with just bones present?
I love Ezekiel’s response.
He says “Only, you know Lord.”
It seems ridiculous, it seems unnatural, it seems like it would be easy to be negative here.
But Ezekiel throws the questions back to God.
He doesn’t deny it but he also isn’t sold on it.
He says very simply: Only you know God.
A word Jim Lacy taught us was Atenamy= meaning we do not know on this side of eternity for only God knows.
But here is God’s response.
He ask Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones.
and then to prophesy over the wind/Breath/spirit will enter them and they shall live.
God tells him how it is going to happen and then Ezekiel does the most crazy thing.
He actually begins to prophesy.
He is being obedient to what God has called Him to do
And real quick to prophesy to someone means to speak with divine inspiration.
But look at this:
Ezekiel only has one line in this whole passage.
He is not speaking.
God is telling him to speak but nothing is recorded/
It is not Ezekiel’s words that bring life, no, it is God’s word, for it says that they hear the word of God.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
And when the Word of God was heard— a rattle began.
And those bones that were dead and lifeless began to come alive.
Tendons and skin was beginning to cover the bones.
Then it was in that moment where God tells Ezekiel to call on the Spirit to bring breath into the bodies that were now just missing the breath of God.
I can’t help but be reminded by creation when Adam was present and God brought him to life.
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
And when Ezekiel acted in obedience He prophesied and the Spirit come and it filled the bodies and it was a great army.
This speaks to the power of God.
It speaks to the power of God’s word.
It speaks to the power of obeying God.
It speaks to the fact that God was moving.
He was working.
There was a reason that Ezekiel was being shown this.
There is a reason why Ezekiel is prophesying over dry bones.
It would be easy to look at this situation and feel that despair.
Maybe there has been times in your life where things just didn’t make a ton of sense.
Illustration
I remember my wife yelling my name as I woke from my sleep.
It was Saturday and the next day was mother’s day.
You ever have those moments where when your name is said in such a way that you will never forget it?
I will never forget the sound of my name coming from Brittni on this day.
We had just received news that we were pregnant and going to be expecting our third born.
We had just told family and friends.
We knew it was early on but we couldn’t suppress our excitement.
For we prayed for this child.
And it appeared that God was opening doors.
Brittni got pregnant super quick and we felt like God was moving and again answering our prayers.
Then I heard my name call out.
Something was wrong.
I didn’t even have to have Brittni tell me we lost the baby.
It was already clear before I got to the bathroom.
And in the days that followed, there were tears, shouts as to why GOD!?
Our hope dwindled.
I mean wasn’t this an answer to prayer?
To say we were lost would be an understatement.
We thought that God cared for us.
Application
Maybe you are in a place of doubt and frustration.
In despair.
But even in death and in our suffering we have to believe that God is up to something.
There is a reason for our suffering.
It may not make sense to us.
We would do it a different way but God is working.
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
And where I think we need to be careful as to not replace “his good pleasure with our good pleasure.
I think that is why we start to get angry and mad at God.
We don’t humble ourselves as it says in 1 Peter 5.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
We have a God who care for us.
He cares about your worries and your troubles.
He wants you to come to Him and lay it all down before Him.
Jesus spoke of this durning his life here on earth.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Some of us may be walking in here this morning with a ton of burdens and anxieties and we are tired, and hurting.
Let me remind you that you do not have to do it alone.
And that you have a God who cares you!
That God wants you to bring it before him so he can give you rest.
It is not meaningless— God has a purpose even in our suffering.
Transition
Now as we head back into the valley we see what the bones represented as I mentioned earlier
And the bones represented Israel in case you forgot.
The nation that was suppose to be God’s people.
You know that nation that was in exile.
That nation that was hopeless.
Israel was Hopeless
Israel was Hopeless
Explain
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’
Israel was no more.
It was a shell of what it was before.
The people’s comment here is a lament.
Many of us got up today and pinned our lament onto the cross.
Did yours happen to say hopeless?
Maybe it said lost.
Maybe it said downhearted.
inadequate?
dejected
Pointless
You see this is how the nation of Israel would have felt.
They were out of their homes
Their Hope has vanished
They Were are cut off.
It is because they don’t have access to the temple— they are cut off from God.
They were indeed hopeless.
When things look a little bleak what do we do?
We lose heart.
Illustration
A couple of months ago I lost my papa as I have already mentioned.
And it was really hard to go through that.
He was 79 when he passed but to be honest it feels like we were robbed of more time with him.
And as we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, it was great having many of us together but we were missing our papa, it just wasn’t the same.
And I don’t know when it will ever feel normal again.
My guess is that it won’t.
And it can be hard in those moments to see how God is working.
It can be hard to see how this pain is meaningful.
That in this suffering it is meant for God’s glory?
How is it possible?
I trust that good can and will come out of this but somedays are harder than others to see this truth.
I must keep reminding myself that God is faithful.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
It takes each and every morning waking up with that confidence that God will be faithful, that he does care and he does love me.
But maybe that is not where you are at currently.
Application
Where hope seems dim.
And you are literally just hanging on my a thread.
Don’t lose heart.
Don’t walk out on God here.
Israel turned from God—
They were cut off and hope was no longer in their vocabulary.
They lost heart.
Eventually crying out to Him
But what about you?
When sickness hits, when cancer creeps in, when family’s are torn apart, when your thoughts turn against you, what is your response?
It is easy to turn and walk away from God when things get a little tough.
It is easy to not wrestle with why something is happening.
We want life to be perfect and we want that #blessed-life.
But what happens when its not?
What happens when life hits you hard?
Do you give up, do you lose heart?
This world is going to knock you down.
It is going to hurt you.
You will suffer.
BUT loved ones don’t lose heart.
Don’t give up.
Look what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Don’t lost heart.
We know that this body is wasting away, but our inner-self.
Our mind, our spirit that is being renewed each and everyday.
Our suffering is preparing for something better.
Every affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory.
Nothing compares to it.
Take heart.
Transition
I may not know what your lament is today.
But there is one who does know and there is one who is willing to give you hope and peace.
So Don’t lose heart because God has a plan.
He had a plan for Israel and he has a plan for you as well.
Our last point today as we wrap this up is that God gives life and hope.
God gives Life and Hope
God gives Life and Hope
Explain
This is what God does for Israel
Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
The people were suffering.
They were lost and broken.
They were cut off and hopeless--
But that is not where God is going to leave them.
God is telling Ezekiel that hope is coming for Israel.
Even if they don’t deserve it.
God is going to restore them.
This valley shows the state of Israel as Ezekiel is first placed there.
It is lifeless, but God gives life to these dry bones.
Israel has suffered and they are looking for hope and God is saying look— I’m going to do something amazing here.
Your graves are going to be opened up and you are going to be raise up out of your graves.
God is going to restore the land he promised.
Then he say, that he is going to be put his Spirit in them.
What is happening here is a promised being kept.
Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
God was going to restore his people.
Even though their suffering was great, and they were in despair God was doing something.
Now let me tell you something as you read these last two verses, I hope that your spirit is beginning to be stirred.
The imagery of the resurrection of Christ can’t be anymore clearer then what it is right here.
Some would say that the idea of the resurrection of Christ was not present in the Old Testament, I think that by saying this we directly omit this passage.
Here is why that matters— because church we have been given life and hope as well.
Let me tell you about our state as humans prior to Jesus.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
I want us to remember who our hope is.
The Resurrected Jesus is our hope.
We were in the valley.
Our hope was lost but God sent in his son to offer us hope.
We were no different then the Israelites.
We want our own way.
We are sinners and in desperate need of grace.
And while we were in the Valley—
God sent hope
God sent Jesus.
We were dead.
We were dead in our sin.
Our hope was bleak.
But God sent Jesus to the valley, in order to bring about life.
God’s plan was to move us from death to life.
Folks this is your hope today.
This is why when we suffer to can turn and give it back to Christ, because he is the only one who can handle it and offer us us hope in it.
No matter your lament today— Christ knows it and He is the source of our hope.
The body of Christ has been raised up and Holy Spirit is put inside of you.
While we can lament and we should let us not lose heart.
Life is going to kick us but don’t let it take your heart.
Don’t walk out on God when life gets rough.
Continue to trust in the Lord.
He loves you and he cares for you.
And at times it may not feel that way but continue to be renewed day by day.
His plans are greater then our own.
Follow his calling, be obedient to his promoting, and let us rejoice in our lament for we know that our God is alive and well and he gave up His son to be our great hope.
Don’t lose heart.
Let’s Pray