Lenten Devotional - Day 28

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:7-10

“So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and 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, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’" (Ezek. 37:7-9)

  One night, my husband had to take my teen-aged daughter to the emergency room because she couldn’t breathe. She was afraid that she was dying, but we later learned that a severe panic attack can feel a lot like a heart attack. She had to learn how to trust in her breath. Breath is life.

  When God creates Adam in Genesis 2, he is a lifeless body until God breathes into his nostrils and makes him a living being. Breath is life.

  At yoga, my teacher is always reminding us to breathe. She says yoga is not about how strong we are or how flexible we are, but about how we breathe. Breath is life.

  In today’s Bible verse the prophet Ezekiel commanded the bones and flesh to come together as bodies, but there was no breath in them. Even though they looked human on the outside they were dead on the inside.

  So often we can have everything together on the outside. Our lives look like they are supposed to. We get up. We go to work. We care for our families. We work around the house. But, sometimes we do it without any breath. Without breath, there is no life. We are dead inside.

  And so, we reach out to those things that make us feel alive again on the inside—food or alcohol or drugs or shopping. We can become addicted to a lot of things that give us a false life. Things that make us feel good and alive for a short time but in the end, leave us empty again.

  But the good news of the gospel is that God is not a temporary fix. God is in the business of creating new life, but it’s not temporary. God is in the eternity business. When God breathes life into us, it doesn’t mean everything will go our way and life will be easy. No, it is a promise that we will not have to panic or suffer alone. God is with us in the dry and dusty pits of our life. It’s a promise that when we can’t breathe, God will do it for us so that we may truly live.

Sue Washburn, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: New life might be breathed into our communities to find their way toward helping their neighbors.

Click Here PDF - Day 28 Devotion