As we approach Christmas our lives are filled with bustle and noise. We rattle around clashing together and tempers fray. As we try to organise gifts and visits to our friends and relatives it is easy to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit. We can become distracted and neglect the life of God in us. We can become as dry as the bones Ezekiel saw in the season which celebrates the life we have because of the birth of Jesus Christ
As we look at this passage again this month we se the result of Ezekiel speaking out the word of God.
“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. “
Ez 37:7
When archaeologists find bones they carefully lay them out and try to reconstruct the body. They need to have some understanding of anatomy to be able to fit the right bones together. Sometimes a new species is discovered and there is great excitement as the bones are fitted together and the shape emerges. Sometimes the animal is similar to one they know an they can use that information to identify the family group.
In the valley the dry bones were scattered around and it would have been almost impossible to identify which bones belonged to each individual body. When God’s word was released the bones came together according to His pattern. He knows which bones belong to the arm or the leg and which arm fits on a particular shoulder. There is no deformity when God assembles them, each fits together perfectly. There was a rattling as bone hit bone and clicked into place. It must have been an amazing sight.
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.”
1 Cor 12:12
Paul describes the church as the body of Christ (v27) and explains that we each are a part. Imagine that we are the bones rattling as we are fitted together. Only God knows the size and shape of the body He is creating and where each part fits. We may not be thrilled about the part we are assigned or the bone we are connected to, but we must be willing to be placed by God. If we try to be a hand when we are made to be a foot we will create a deformed body. If we refuse to be connected to another bone we risk being disconnected from the body and the life that flows through it.
It is so important to be connected to Jesus Christ and filled with the life He came to give us. As we celebrate His birth and remember why He came, let us also remember to be willing to obey the One who was obedient even to death. We must recognise His word and align ourselves with His will, doing what He has called us to do, in the place He has chosen for us to be.
