Lenten Devotional - Day 32

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-6

“The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’" (Ezek. 37:1-3)

  The February 14th featured article in the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat was entitled “Cambria coroner again ‘sounding the alarm’ as OD deaths accelerate.” The article began: “Last year was the worst year for fatal drug-related overdoses in Cambria County history – and 2017 has started out even worse. In 2016, the county saw 94 fatal drug-related overdoses with several cases still pending, County Coroner Jeffrey Lees said. So far in 2017, Lees’ office has investigated 22 overdose deaths – on a pace for more than 200.”

  “People that are abusing or addicted to these opioids need to seek help,” Lees said. “The end result could be a ride in the back of my (coroner’s) vehicle.”

  The statistics are staggering. Then we see needles strewn on the street and deals happening in front of our eyes. A single mother dies leaving behind two beautiful daughters. Gunshots ring out in broad daylight. Hopes are dashed again as someone we thought could stay clean shows up high, thinking we won’t even notice. But we do. We see all this around us and more. We dwell in the valley of the shadow of death.

  God lifted Ezekiel up and set him down in the valley of the shadow of death. Ezekiel saw bones lying in a field, bones that were once part of living, breathing human beings, who, in death, had been abandoned to the elements. Now all that was left was dry bone.

  God asked Ezekiel if these bones could live. The logical answer would be, “Of course not. It’s utterly, physically, ridiculously impossible.” But Ezekiel remembered to whom he was speaking – God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. “O, Lord GOD, you know,” he replied. Not only could those bones live, they did live.

  If God can bring life out of absolute death, then there is nothing outside of the Lord’s control, not even addiction and its deadly toll.

  Let us pray for all who see nothing but death and despair, that they may know the life-giving power of God.

Alice Tondora, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Those working to make a difference in the lives of the drug dependent individuals and feel as if they are in a valley full of bones.

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