Sunday, March 22, 2026

Today's Lenten Devotion - Saturday, March 21, 2026

 Saturday – March 21

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1–14

The valley is full of bones—dry, scattered, lifeless.  Ezekiel is asked an impossible question: “Can these bones live?”

The prophet does not answer with optimism or despair.  He answers with humility: “O Lord God, you know.”

Exile had drained hope from Israel.  Identity felt fractured.  The future appeared sealed shut.  Yet God commands the prophet to speak—to prophesy breath into what seemed beyond repair.

We know valleys like this.  Congregations weary from conflict.  Communities fractured by polarization.  Justice efforts stalled.  Personal dreams abandoned.  Sometimes the dryness is external; sometimes it is interior.

The Spirit does not deny the dryness.  The Spirit enters it.

Breath—the same breath that animated creation—moves again.  Tendons form.  Flesh returns. Life stands up.

Lent teaches us to name the bones honestly.  But it also trains us to speak hope courageously.

We are not naïve about brokenness.  We are faithful about possibility.

Resurrection does not begin on Easter morning.  It begins whenever God breathes where we had given up.

Reflection Questions

  1. Where do I see dry bones—in myself, in the Church, in the world?
  2. Do I dare believe renewal is possible?
  3. What hopeful word might I speak into a barren place?

No comments: