The title of this post is a line from another Lauren Daigle song that my husband introduced me to recently. The actual song is “Come Alive (Dry Bones),” and its lyrics are very powerful. In an interview I read (by Kevin Davis), Daigle says that the song is based upon Scripture from the books of Luke and Ezekiel. The verses she references in Luke tell the story of the prodigal son who comes home, and those in Ezekiel tell the story of God breathing actual life into dead and dry bones.
“Through the eyes of men it seems there’s so much we have lost” is how the song begins. I began this year with that very thought on my mind, and I can’t believe that I’m the only one of us who did so. Our losses down here can feel quite overwhelming at times, especially if they become our real focus. It’s just so very important for us to realize and remember that the stories of our lives down here don’t actually end where they seem to end.
Another line from Daigle’s song goes “The enemy has whispered lies and led them off as slaves.” Isn’t that exactly what happened to that prodigal son in Scripture? He bought into the lie that his life would be so much better “living it up” than it would be staying at home with his family; and eventually, after being enslaved by his early inheritance and fleshly desires and squandering everything he had been given, he ends up coveting the scraps of pigs. Until, one day, he swallows his stubborn pride and plans to return home to his father and offer to be a mere slave in his father’s house, since through his own eyes he has lost his right to “sonship” completely. His father, though, thinking his son was dead, forgave him so quickly when he reappeared that the son didn’t even have time to offer to be his father’s servant; and his father immediately gave him the best of everything, no questions asked. He was just so very happy his son was alive.
I think that we too quickly forget that God views us, his children, the exact same way as that father viewed his son. Why else would Jesus tell us this story? He wants to give us new life, either all over again or for the very first time. And we desperately need it, as we’re living in a world that sucks us dry. The image that just popped into my head is that of homemade fried chicken and several of the much older people I grew up around; after they had eaten all of the skin and meat off of the bones, they would then break the bones and even suck the insides out. No wonder I became a young vegetarian, right?! I even heard one of them say once that the real life was inside of the bones. Well, that’s exactly what I feel like often happens to us down here–we’re broken open and sucked completely dry.
But, as Daigle’s song points out to us, the breath of God brings with it new life every single time. God can indeed breathe new life into anything and anyone–a broken relationship, a wayward child, a dead and dry pile of bones. The breath of our God truly has no bounds–not even death can hold it back. I love C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, as anyone who knows me well knows, and there’s a most powerful “breath of God” image brought to life in Narnia. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie, one can see Aslan’s breath bring back to life all of those whom the white witch has viciously turned to stone.
With just one touch of Aslan’s breath, everyone she tortured turns from gigantic lawn decorations back into flesh and blood creatures. I remember how very sad my little girl was the first time we watched the movie together and her beloved faun Mr. Tumnus was suddenly turned to stone. She wasn’t so distraught the second time we watched it though because by that time she had learned the end of the story–Mr. Tumnus comes back to “real” life later on, thanks to the mighty breath of Aslan (aka: God).
Yes, when we look through the eyes of men, we have indeed lost much. And we have much to fear. And our bones can be most brittle and dry. But, when we look into the eyes of God through Christ, I pray that we see how very much we’ve gained and how very much we have to hope for. And I pray too that we don’t see fear but courage, lots of courage. And I pray we see bones that are anything but dry, bones that are simply saturated with the Spirit–the life-giving Holy Spirit of our God.
Leave a Reply