Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
– Ezekiel 37:11-14
I was struck this last Wednesday by the deadness among the highschool group at our church as we met for Elevat. They seemed cold and disinterested, hardened to what was being said and the people who are there to show them the love of Christ. I’ve seen the progression towards that hard-heartedness over the last few years and was overwhelmed by the force with which it has taken so many young people.
These eyes see and I wonder what we are to do for the thousands who are growing up and becoming more and more calloused and distanced from the Gospel. Where are those in the church who have been caught up by your Spirit and are full of passion for your Word and You? Is it that we have failed to teach and train them in your ways or is it the world around us that drags this generation downward? Or perhaps it is now as it was so many times throughout the history of Israel, that there came a point where you simply turned your people over to their enemies and withdrew your hand so that they might learn once again to fear you. I don’t know the cause of this lack of true Christianity among the young adults of today, but is a fact that weighs heavy upon my heart, particularly here at Lakewood where the truth is preached so often and so openly.
It feel as if we here are like Ezekiel, preaching to a people who’s eyes have been blinded and ears have been blocked by the Lord. Yet oh what a vision the Lord gives to His prophet when He brings him to a valley of long-dead men and women, bones bleached by the sun. Too often we expect that our preaching and our ministry is to be only to those who are living, attentive, and interested. We judge our work to be successful when we see people who are growing and are excited about the things of God, and rightly so, for those things are great measures of the Lord’s work. However, we must not mistake the result for the reason that we do ministry.
My friends, it is our call to be like Ezekiel and preach standing before a graveyard. We do not do what we do firstly because we see pleasant results, nor because it is always enjoyable. No! We speak because our God has commanded us to!
My point is this; be faithful to the preaching of the Word that the Lord has given, even if it seems as if the dead men and women that you preach to are not responding. Stay the course! Ours is the God who declares, “I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” Even if there is no movement, stay the course and He shall do His work, not because you preach more passionately than others or because the volunteers you have are great people, but because He has said that He will give life to those who are dead, and He will do it. It is because of our faith in that fact that we will continue on here at Lakewood and Lakewood Student Ministries. Oh yes, it will be a glorious and joyful thing when we see God’s Spirit come and utterly fill every one of the students who he has chosen for salvation, but until that day we will strive to do as Ezekiel did and prophesy over dead bones so that they may live.
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