August 4 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ezekiel 37:1-14:

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
²And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
³And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
⁴Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
⁸And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
⁹Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
¹¹Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
¹²Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
¹³And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
¹⁴And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

Devotional

The Lord showed unto the prophet Ezekiel an open valley. This valley was full of bones, and these bones were very dry. Then the Lord put the question to the Prophet: "Can these bones live?" Can bones that are all dried up live? According to human reason and understanding this is impossible. But it is the Almighty God that is speaking to the prophet, and he answered, "O Lord God, thou knowest."

Then the Lord gave him the command. "Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." What? can dry bones hear? They have no ears to hear, and no human voice can make them hear. But we read, "Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live." And as the prophet prophesied, "there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came to­gether, bone to his bone." Then sinews and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then the prophet was told to prophesy to the wind and as he did so, the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then the prophet was told that these bones were the house of Israel; that God would put his Spirit into them, that they should live, and be brought out of captivity into their own land; and God would be their God, and they should be his people.

Thus God by his Word and Spirit has delivered us from spir­itual bondage and death. "Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

Prayer

O God, we thank Thee for Thine infinite grace, Thine unspeakable love and Thine almighty power through which Thou hast brought us from death unto life and heavenly glory. We have not earned a particle of our salvation. We owe it all to Thee. Therefore unto Thee be praise, and adoration, and honor, and glory now and for ever. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Ezek. 37:5, 7-14, 27; Eph. 2:5, 6.

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