Dry Bones
When I was in the ninth-grade chorus, we learned a lively spiritual called “Dem Bones.” If you’re familiar with it, you probably remember the refrain: “The foot bone connected to the leg bone…” It was a fun song to sing, and more than fifty years later I can still hear the melody in my mind.
At the time, I had no idea the song came from Ezekiel 37.
Like many who grew up in church, I knew a number of Bible stories from Sunday School, vacation Bible school, and summer church camp. I heard Scripture read during worship services each week, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I began reading the Bible for myself and discovering the larger story that ties it all together.
When I read Ezekiel 37 today, my mind went back to that chorus room. But I also realized how much I had missed.
Ezekiel wasn’t giving a lesson in anatomy. He was speaking God’s Word to people who had lost almost everything. Jerusalem had fallen. The temple had been destroyed. God’s people were living in exile. They described themselves this way: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off” (Ezekiel 37:11).
That is more than ancient history. Those words still describe people today. A difficult diagnosis. A broken relationship. A lost dream. A church that seems to have lost its way. There are moments when hope dries up and all we can see is what feels like a valley of dry bones.
God’s answer was not to deny the reality of the valley. The bones were indeed dry. Instead, He showed Ezekiel that He is able to bring life where people see only death. The God who promised to restore His people from exile is the same God who ultimately fulfilled that promise through Jesus Christ, whose resurrection assures us that death and despair never have the final word.
As you read this text today, it is worth asking: where in your life do you need to trust that God can bring life where you only see loss?
Paul echoes this same hope when he writes, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
The old spiritual was right about one thing: the bones came together. But the greater miracle is that God breathes life into what was once lifeless.
The same God still speaks hope into hopeless places. So wherever you find yourself today, do not mistake the presence of dry bones for the absence of God. The One who speaks life is still at work.
Lord, in those places where hope feels lost and life feels dry, teach us to trust You again. Speak life where we see only loss, and remind us that nothing is beyond Your redeeming power. Amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Ezekiel 37:1-28 ESV
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