Genesis 2:7 says God formed man from the dust of the ground. But notice something remarkable: Man was fully formed, yet he was not alive until God breathed into him. It wasn’t the dust that gave him life. It wasn’t even the hands that formed him. It was the breath of God.
Centuries later, Ezekiel stood in a valley filled with dry bones. There was no life, no hope, and no future. But God told Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones. As Ezekiel spoke the Word of God, the bones came together, tendons appeared, flesh covered them, and skin formed over them. Yet something was still missing.
Ezekiel 37:8 says, “But there was no breath in them.” They had structure. They had form. They looked alive. But they were still lifeless until the breath of God entered them.
Then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath. When the breath entered them, they stood on their feet as a mighty army! What a powerful picture of our spiritual lives!
We can have the appearance of life. We can attend church, know Scripture, sing the songs, and go through the motions. But without God’s life-giving presence, we can have all the outward appearance of spiritual life while remaining spiritually dry.
The Word of God brings things together, but the breath of God brings them to life. The same God who breathed life into Adam and raised an army from a valley of dry bones is still breathing life into people today.
Are there dry places in your life—dreams that have died, hope that has faded, or a spiritual fire that has grown cold? Remember this: What looks dead to us is not beyond the breath of God. God didn’t just create us to exist. He created us to live! And the breath that gave Adam life and raised dry bones into an army reminds us that no situation is too hopeless for God to restore.