Trusting God in the Dry Seasons - Encouragement for Today - Decermber 24, 2019

Peace and perspective from God's timeless truths. [View this email in your browser]( Encouragement for Today --------------------------------------------------------------- December 24, 2019 Trusting God in the Dry Seasons [LAURA BAILEY]( [Listen to this devotion]( “Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.”’” [Ezekiel 37:11]( (NIV) Navigating the church’s halls with the giggles of rambunctious toddlers as my guide, I eagerly approached my daughter’s classroom. Peering in, she caught my eye — “Momma! I am dry bones; look at me come alive!” Music blared, and small limbs flailed in every direction as they sang, “Ezekiel cried them dry bones. Ezekiel cried them dry bones. Ezekiel cried them dry bones. Oh, hear the words of the Lord!” We parents joined our tots in singing and dancing. As I tucked my daughter into bed that night, I thanked her for inviting me to be a part of her Sunday school lesson. And I confessed my momma’s heart had been heavy, but her invitation to sing and dance had lifted my spirits. With sleepy eyelids, she whispered: “When life is hard, we can trust in God.” Downstairs, I found myself humming the words to the song from earlier in the day. The lyrics transported me back to my youth as I recalled the Bible story of the prophet Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones where God commanded the dead bones to join together and come alive. Infatuated with the supernatural, physical nature of the bones in that story, the spiritual lesson about God’s character had eluded me. I’d missed the point back then, and even now, years later, I still sang this children’s chorus without understanding its powerful message. What was the big deal about these dry bones? I asked myself. Settling into the worn spot on the sofa, I resisted the urge to watch my favorite TV show and reluctantly opened my Bible to this story in Ezekiel. My heart took pause when my eyes landed on our key verse: “Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off”’” ([Ezekiel 37:11](. After suffering defeat from their enemies, the Israelites were enslaved and in exile, dead in their faith and lacking hope in God's promise to restore their nation. They’d abandoned the Lord, and they no longer trusted the covenant promises God made to their forefathers to send a Redeemer, to deliver them from captivity and resettle them in their own land. Spiritually, they were a dead people; much like the valley of dried-up bones, their hearts withered. As I reflected, I silently criticized the Israelites. How could they forget God’s promises and His faithful provision for their ancestors yet again? Was their faith really that shallow? While I was mentally berating these people, I felt that all-too-familiar twinge of conviction in my own parched heart, realizing that I, too, was often without hope. The Lord had planted a seed of promise in my heart, yet nothing seemed to be growing. Frustrated, I scrawled in my journal, “God, have You forgotten me?” His answer came as a resounding, “No, I am not bound by time or place." [Continue reading...]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read about Salem Web Network]( | [Subscription Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( --------------------------------------------------------------- © 2019 Salem Web Network. All rights reserved. 111 Virginia Street, Suite 500, Richmond, VA 23219. This email is never sent unsolicited. You are receiving this email because your email address, {EMAIL}, is signed up to receive newsletters, updates, and special offers from Encouragement for Today. [Link](