NOT OVER UNTIL OVER

 

On 6 July 2007, Marion Bartoli caused one of the biggest shocks in the Wimbledon history. The 22-year-old French tennis player ranked No. 19 in world women tennis faced world No. 1, Justine Henin, in the semi-final. It took Henin barely 22 minutes to win the first set 6-1 and it looked like it was going to be a quick end for Bartoli. She was under enormous stress. It was at that stage that she saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd.

Brosnan has played James Bond in a number of films and he was one of Bartoli’ s favourite actors. She saw him clapping for her! That was the bottom line of her hopelessness. She says “I tried to forget who I was playing and where I was playing and I started playing very good”. She steadied her game by winning the second set at 7-5 and 6-1 in the third set! She stunned the tennis star by winning the game (Caroline Cheese, 2007).

God took Ezekiel to a valley of the bones in a vision (Ezek. 37). The valley was so dense with human bones that it was described as full of bones. The bones were very dry, suggesting that they had been there for a long time. Then, God asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezek. 37: 2-3). One might hope that a recently dead corpse mighty somehow resuscitate. No one hopes that scattered, detached, dry bones might live.

Based on human understanding Ezekiel would have answered “No”. But that would have amounted to doubting God’s powers. If he had answered “yes” that would have been presumptuous of God’s intentions. So Ezekiel wisely answered “O Lord God, You know”.  God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ... I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live ” (Ezek. 37: 4-7).

That is the reverse of decomposition; could this be a glimpse how resurrection will happen? From where Ezekiel stood that day his task must have seemed impossible. Preaching to dry bones would seem like a waste of time; a skeleton cannot hear! But we sometimes forget the incredible vital power of God’s word. God made man out of dust (Gen. 2:7), woman from rib (Gen. 2:22) and spoke the universe into existence (Gen. 1).

By all outward observation this was a vain act. Ezekiel could only preach this message full of faith in God. He was confident that if he spoke the word of God, it had supernatural power. So he did as  commanded. As he was prophesying “there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them”(vv7,8).

The bones assembled themselves properly as skeletons and not as weird combination. Bones of each body came together and attached to one another as they once had been. When God restores, he puts things together in the right way. All of a sudden the bones became bodies again but there was no breath in them. Life would be marked by breath living once again in these bodies. Then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath saying, “come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live” (vv 8-10).

Ezekiel prophesied and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet. The Hebrew word breath used here by Ezekiel has a rich variety. It covers not only man’s vital breath given to him at birth and leaving his body in his dying gasp, but it also means the spirit of God. God told Ezekiel that the dry bones represented the Israel who say, “our bones are dried up and our hope is gone.’  

God told Ezekiel to Say to them “My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them… Then you will know that I am the Lord… I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken and I have done it” (vv. 11-14). By this time in history, the Israelites were so widely scattered among the surrounding nations.

It looked as if their national identity was forever gone and they would never again return to their Promised Land. Hence, one purpose of this vision was to inspire them with hope that God would someday revive them as a nation. God also wanted his children in all generations to learn from this vision that nothing is too hard for him. What may appear hopeless and dead to you is a field full of possibilities for the Lord. Bones are always associated with death but in this case bones were a source of life. 

In another case Elisha’s bones radiated life even after he was dead (2 Kings 13:20-21).  Don’t lose hope, you can preach to “dry bones” in your life and see results. When the rod(dead) of Aaron was placed before the Lord in the tabernacle, overnight it sprouted and put forth buds,  produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds (Numbers 17:6-8). There is inherent power in the word of God. It is so potent that it infuses new life into that which appears dead.

When King David’s son of his adultery fell ill (2 Samuel 12), God sent Prophet Nathan to tell him that the child would die. Therefore it was a closed and hopeless case. But instead of arranging for the child’s imminent burial, David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food.

On the seventh day of David’s vigil, the child died. When he learnt the Child had died. To everyone surprise, David rose up, took a bath, changed his cloth, went to Gods house and worshiped. He then went home and asked for food. This is how David explained his attitude “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ (2 Sam. 12: 13-18, 21-22). David was not going to give up for as long as his son was still alive.

In Ecclesiastes 9:4 Solomon says that where there is life there is hope, yet with God there is even hope when there appears to be no life. As long as the person you are praying for is alive don’t give up, there is hope. Choose to make that hopelessness confronting you a valley of hope and not a bottomless pit of despair. Is there a person who you think is too lost to be found; someone for whom it seems useless to pray?

Are you struggling with some addiction and you are contemplating giving up. You have done all that is humanly possible and things are not getting any better. When we face such inevitability, it is logical to accept our fate and wait for the end. We accept the verdict and activate a coping strategy. But there are some who will not give up, no matter what. After all, they claim, how do you know that it is over? How do you know that it is not a test of your faith?

Angel Gabriel told Mary “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:34, 37). When the disciples asked “who then can be saved Jesus said “with men it is impossible but not with God, for with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27). God never wants us to lose faith that he can give life even if it appears that a situation is hopeless. When you give up instead of fighting, you tie God’s hands and He cannot help you. Do not give up yet, it’s not over until it’s over!