Devotions from Chris Tomlin - Burning LightsНамуна

“Awake My Soul”

When God created Adam, he breathed into Adam’s body, and the man came to life (Gen. 2:7). What an intimate picture: God’s actual breath filling a man’s lungs. The breath of life. We see elsewhere in scripture God’s desire to fill us with his breath, even if we are technically already alive.

One of the most notable places we see this is in Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet handed the unfortunate task of telling the Israelites that, unlike what false prophets were promising, the Israelites would not be delivered from captivity for a long time. At the time, he and about 10,000 other Israelites were captive to Babylonia.

But as the Lord gave Ezekiel this depressing message to share, He also gave him a promise. God gave Ezekiel a picture of a valley of dry bones--basically, a large pile of dead and fully decayed bodies. And He told Ezekiel: “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live” (Ez. 37:4-5).

Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me.
I come alive, I'm alive when You breathe on me.

We have all experienced, are experiencing or will experience a time of captivity. You have suffered loss, you’re confused, depressed, captive to an addiction. Whatever it may be, when you are in the valley of dry bones, your thought is primarily what the Israelites’ was: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off” (Ez. 37:11).

The valley is a dark and hopeless place- which is why the Lord showed it to Ezekiel. He showed him the most hopeless and dead image and assured him He could breathe life back into it. Our God breathes life back into us and raises people from the dead. It’s his specialty.

And it is not a one-time thing. God continues to breathe into us as we need it, which is why we see that pattern so clearly in scripture.

Know, then, that the promise of Ezekiel is the promise still: “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” (Ez. 37:14).