“Don’t Run Away From the Valley”
Sunday, August 16, 2009

Introduction: When I was a kid growing up, I purchased my first TV when I was about 13 years old. I had a paper route, and saved up enough money to buy a 13” black and white. One of the only channels I got on my TV, since it wasn’t hooked up to my parents’ antenna, and we didn’t have satellite back then, was channel 28. I would love to watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Because of this I became a Monty Python fan, and loved their movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” This movie was a satire of the Camelot and King Arthur legend.
At one point the different knights who are following King Arthur go on separate journeys. Knight Sir Robin, who is known as brave knight Sir Robin for his fearlessness, goes on his journey and encounters this large 3-headed person. Sir Robin tells them that he is a knight of the round table, and that he wants to pass. They respond that they are going to have to kill him, and begin to argue who will do it. After a time of arguing, they realize that Sir Robin is gone. As Sir Robin is riding along, his minstrel begins to sing: Brave Sir Robin ran away; Bravely ran away away.
When danger reared its ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes Brave Sir Robin turned about; And gallantly he chickened out;
Bravely taking to his feet; He beat a very brave retreat;
Bravest of the brave Sir Robin. (All the while Sir Robin is saying: “No I didn’t.”)
This morning I want us to look at how in life we will encounter times in the valley, times of dryness and unfruitfulness and deadness that can cause us some fear. But we must not run away from these times, because God can bring great experiences in our lives from those times!!

I. Full of Bones- (Ezekiel 37:1-2)
a. Encountering bones- In our text this morning from Ezekiel 37, we
see that Ezekiel has a dream, and in this dream he is taken by the Lord to a valley. As he looks at this valley he sees all these bones. There were many bones lying around in this valley; dry bones. It was an eerie sight. I’m sure it made Ezekiel very uncomfortable. I’m sure Ezekiel was wondering why God would bring him to a place like this. I’m sure Ezekiel was wondering what these bones were doing in the valley; what caused them to be there? They must have been there a long time, because they were very dry.
The bones represent the Israelites who are in exile. They have been in exile for 10 years and seem to have no hope of getting out of exile. Because of this their hope is lost, and so they are in a very dry place. They are despondent over their situation and don’t know how to get out of this place of despair. As the prophet of God to the people, Ezekiel was feeling a little lost as well, because he didn’t have any words of hope for them.
As we think about the Israelites, we need to understand that we too have these times of dryness when we feel lost and have no hope. In many ways the whole country is feeling this as well. With the economic crisis upon us, we see many people out of work and struggling financially. We see businesses struggling, the banks struggling, the real estate market struggling. It is like looking at a valley of dry bones. What message of hope is there?
When we are in this place, our tendency is to want to withdraw, or get depressed, or feel like there is no way out. We feel like Ezekiel probably felt, a despondency over a hopeless situation. What could he do with all these dry bones? He probably wanted to just turn and run away.
b. Don’t run away- But the answer is never about running away,
especially when we have God with us. And Ezekiel had God with him. In fact, it was God who brought Ezekiel there. There was a purpose that God brought Ezekiel to the valley. God wanted Ezekiel to get a picture of the state the Israelites were in. Sometimes being able to see an example of a condition heightens our sensitivity to that issue. Ezekiel knew that the people were struggling, but seeing the dry bones, the valley filled with bones, really put it all together for him.
Along with that, Ezekiel realized that the situation before him was bigger than what he could handle. He was at a loss of what to do when he saw the bones. There was not one constructive thing he could do with the bones. That is why he wanted to run away; to get far away from the dead, dry bones. They probably freaked him out. Who wants to be in the presence of dead, dry bones?
You could imagine Ezekiel turning to God and asking, ‘Why did you bring me here? Why would you put me in this uncomfortable situation?’
Not only did God take Ezekiel to the valley, but the scripture says that God “led him all around the valley and the bones.” Not only did God not want Ezekiel to run away, God wanted Ezekiel to take in the situation from all angles. This was because God was going to allow Ezekiel to be a part of the solution for his people. When we choose to not run away, and rely on God to work in and through us, God will indeed use us to help turn the situation around!
So Ezekiel is now ready for the question that God has for him next; the question that will draw Ezekiel into God’s plan; a plan that can only come about if Ezekiel allows God to do the work through him.

II. Putting the Bones together- (Ezekiel 37:3-6)
a. Assembly- If you have ever purchased anything that you have to
put together, you know that assembly can be complicated. Here I have the assembly instructions for a changing table that I put together many years ago. There are 6 steps to this process. At the end of the 6 steps, you hope that you did it right, and that everything fit together well. You don’t want any extra parts. You want it to stand and be sturdy and safe for your child. Following the directions is important, and it is nice that there are good directions on how the table is to go together.
In Ezekiel 37:3, God asks Ezekiel: “Mortal, can these bones live?” In other words, can these bones be assembled to become living people again. Do you think Ezekiel wanted to ask: “Uh, Lord, is there any directions for this?” But what Ezekiel really said was, “O Lord, God, you know.” Safe answer, don’t you think? Surely God knows the answer to His question.
God continues in verses 4-6: “Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
There were directions, and God gives them to Ezekiel. It starts with Ezekiel’s faith of prophesying to the bones that they will be attached by tendons, and then flesh, and then breath for life.
God will do the assembly after Ezekiel faithfully follows God’s directions.
b. New life- These dry bones will have new life. They will go from
being dead, dry bones, to being bodies, put together by God, and given breath for life. So the first step is putting the bones together, doing an assembly of sorts, but that is not enough. New life is not just about assembling the bones, and tendons, and flesh together, and then giving them breath. New life is about a change of heart.
When President Obama took office, he had a stimulus package in mind that he believed would turn around the economy. The packaged included tax cuts for many Americans, to be paid for by the wealthy, a creation of 2.5 million jobs, and reforming the financial system. But even if Obama is able to implement these elements into the economy, it won’t be enough. Why? Because without a change of heart, people will make the same mistakes the made before the problems arose; without a change of heart people will be wasteful in the same ways.
A change of heart is needed because this is what leads us to new behavior; behavior that is more constructive and beneficial. Part of what God will lead Ezekiel to understand here, is that the Israelites cannot continue in the behavior that led them into exile. Every time Israel found herself in exile, it was because they abandoned God and followed other gods. They turned away from living the way God had directed them, and then found themselves in bondage and oppression.
It is not just about bringing life to dead bones, or bringing life to a dead faith, or bringing life to a dead church. It is about changing our hearts to be people who truly love and follow God.

III. Transformation- (Ezekiel 37:7-8; Romans 12:1-2)
a. Transforming people- What is the biggest thing God has ever
asked you to do? To answer that question, we have to have heard God leading us. I think for me it is stepping out in faith and challenging people in their spiritual growth. To do this I have to seek to lead people to change. They have to make decisions to give up some of what they are doing so they can live more for God. This isn’t easy for people to make this change. There is usually a struggle, and sometimes a fight against God in making this change. I have even seen people leave church because they are too tied into their current lifestyle.
God calls Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, and Ezekiel is faithful to this call. After Ezekiel prophesies he hears a noise, a rattling sound, and when he looks to see what is happening, he sees that the bones are coming together. I think it surprised him. It is one thing to hear God’s voice, then to obey it, but I don’t think we always believe it is going to happen. Here Ezekiel sees God causing the bones to come together!! Not only that, but then tendons are connecting them, and then skin begins to cover them.
Here Ezekiel sees a transformation, from dry bones to whole bodies. But the bodies are just lying there with no breath.

b. Being missional- Of course, breath for a body is essential to life.
For a church, and for us as Christians, it is about serving beyond ourselves. The current term for this is “being missional.” What this refers to is to go out into our community. Of course we see this example in Jesus’ life. Jesus didn’t stay at the temple waiting for people come to Him so He could teach them. Jesus went out into the community. This was the crux of Jesus’ ministry. He was constantly on the move.
It doesn’t take much observation to see this in the gospels. Just following along in the titles of the sections of scripture show this for us. Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, by the sea of Galilee where He called His disciples. Matthew 4:25 says, “And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” Jesus was on the move, going from place to place, out amongst the people.
When Jesus taught the beatitudes, it was on top of a mountain, when he healed the Centurion’s servant, it was as he was entering Capernaum. He then went to Peter’s house and healed Peter’s mother. And on and on his ministry went, at people’s homes, by the lake, in the entryway of the temple, many places other than the temple itself. Jesus involved Himself with the people where the people were at.
As a faithful church, transformed for God, having new life, we must be willing to be fed, encouraged, and uplifted here, and then go out into the community to the poor, the homeless, and the oppressed. We must have a missional mentality as the Lord did. Otherwise, we are just dry bones with breath.

IV. Getting Over the 3-foot Wall- (Ez. 37:9-14; Ps. 23:4-6; Genesis 2:7)
a. Impala- Illus.- I don’t know if you know much about the African
Impala, but it is quite the animal. Let me tell you a little about it, and what I will tell you, you might have trouble believing. An Impala has the natural ability to jump from a standing position 10-13 feet in the air! To put this in perspective, think about a basketball hoop. The hoop is 10 feet off the ground. So an Impala can be standing still, and from that position jump as high as the rim and maybe even as high as the top of the backboard!! Along with that, an Impala can jump 30 feet forward while on the run. I measured that distance this last week, and 30 feet is from the front of these stairs to the middle of the eighth pew, just past that post.
And yet, with this ability there is an astounding truth for the Impala’s that are in a zoo. If you have ever noticed, the only thing keeping an Impala penned up is a three foot wall. How can that be? If an Impala can jump over 10 feet high, and can jump 30 feet forward, how can a 3-foot wall keep it enclosed? It is because Impala’s are trained when they are young to think that they can’t get out. So they don’t know any differently. When they see the wall, they think that they can’t get out!!
b. 3-foot Wall- The truth is that we all have a 3-foot wall in our lives.
We have been trained to think that there are certain things we cannot do. Maybe we have been taught that we are not athletic, or not intelligent, or that we can’t memorize things. Maybe we have been taught that we aren’t a leader, or we aren’t teachers. Whatever it is, there are certain things that you have been told that you cannot or should not do, and so you allow this 3-foot wall to box you in!!
In the Star Wars movie Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker is being trained to be a Jedi Knight by master Yoda. Now Yoda is a small creature, but he is a Jedi master, trained in the ways of the force. It is an honor for Luke to be trained by Yoda. Yoda is showing Luke how with the force he can move objects with his mind. As Luke is training he begins to lift small rocks, then he hears a noise, which is his plane that is sinking into the mud. Yoda tells Luke that he can lift it out with the force. So Luke begins, closing his eyes and concentration on lifting the plane up. At first it begins to move, then it sinks back down. Luke looks at Yoda and says: “It’s just too big and heavy!” Yoda replies: “Size does not matter.” As Luke starts to walk away, Yoda lifts the plane out of the mud and onto dry ground. Luke is amazed that Yoda was able to accomplish this.
In real life, we have a similar battle. We think there are things too big to be done. Like Ezekiel, God asks us to believe in mighty deeds that God wants to do through us. But too often we don’t accomplish it because our 3-foot wall is the thinking that it can’t be done. God can accomplish it, but often times works through us and the faith we exhibit!
Ezekiel 37:9-10 says: “Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.“ Ezekiel believed, and prophesied, and the bones not only had breath which came upon them much in the same way breath came into Adam in Genesis 2:7, but these new beings stood on their feet ready to serve the Lord.

Conclusion: What valley are you in? You might be in this valley because you have strayed from God as the Israelites did? You might be in this valley because of the complexities of life. You might be in this valley because you have something to learn. And in this valley you feel dry and dead. You feel defeated and hopeless. You feel despondent and in despair. But you do not have to stay in the valley. As we are told in Psalm 23:4, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.” God is with us in the valley, wanting to give us His breath of life. But are we willing to stand up and serve Him when this breath enters us? Receive the breath of life this day, commit to not run away from the valley, and change your heart to serve the Lord with energy, intelligence, enthusiasm, and creativity. Let us give thanks to God this day. Amen.