Dry Bones

If I was there…

As I looked around, my senses took in what my eyes could not. It was a strange place. Dark, cold, damp. The smell of rotten eggs filled my nostrils, taking my breath away. The silence was so loud I could hear my own heartbeat and breathing. The air around me was heavy and a taste of metal filled my mouth. My eyes could not see anything but darkness. As I creeped forward, less than an inch at a time, I found what seemed like a wall of sorts. It was smooth, cold, but uneven. As I continued walking very slowly forward, my eyes started seeing shadows. The air lost the dampness, but the smell became even stronger. I dug my nose and mouth into my right arm bend, attempting to reduce the smell and taste. My eyes kept opening larger in an attempt to see clearer. I continue creeping along the strange wall. Then, I started hearing voices. Well, one man’s voice and another sound that reminded me of thunder, but with both a comfort and fear stirring within my soul. I couldn’t quite make out what the man was saying, and I could only see a shadow in the distance with no form. Then the strange wall ended, and I stopped trying to see my surroundings. I could only make out a shadow next to a larger shadow, located on the ground. I focused on the shadows and the sound. I walked slowly as the larger shadow appeared to be as large as a lake. In the large shadow I saw lighter shadows, of all sizes and lengths. It reminded me of a beach with branches and trees washed ashore. I was able to see the ground I was walking on now, so I moved a bit faster taking larger steps, yet reserved. The man’s voice was coming from the smaller shadow, but the thunder was coming from all around me. The small shadow was taking shape as I kept walking forward, it was a man. He was looking into the large shadow talking. I could not understand what he was saying. Each time the thunder stopped, this man spoke. I kept moving forward. As I came closer I could vaguely make out what the man was saying. I heard, Lord, God, only you know. Then I took another look at the large shadow and adjusted my eyes. I gasped and held my breath as my eyes registered what they saw. The lake of driftwood that I thought I was seeing, was actually bones. So many bones. No water, no lake, no trees, just a large pile of bones. 

As I walked closer, I could see the man looking out over the bones talking to the air. Or maybe he was talking to the thunder, I could not tell. The thunder did not get any louder, and it was just as majestic as when I first heard it. I could hear the man clearly now. He did not notice me. I stopped to listen and watch. What I heard, I did not understand.

I heard the man say these words, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! The Lord God says He will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. He will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. He will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that He is Yahweh.” 

As he was saying this, I heard another strange noise, a rattling noise. A loud and continuous rattling noise. Then movement caught my eye as I looked at the pile of bones, a fear overwhelmed me from my heart throughout my body to my head, toes and fingertips. I was frozen with a combination of fear, amazement, unbelief and excitement. What was I seeing? How can this be happening? These bones, every single one of them were coming together to form people. I watched as I saw each layer of the human body be put together. The tendons, muscles, veins and vessels, organs, skin, finger and toe nails, hair, faces. But they were all just laying there, not a movement. Lifeless yet whole.

Then I heard the thunder again. I looked at the human body’s lying there with awe and wondered how this could be, I couldn’t move a muscle and couldn’t speak or make a sound.

Then I heard the man say, “Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live! ” 

Swiftly a warm wind hit my face, then a cool wind came from behind me and nearly knocked me over. A wind came from the left side of me and another from the right. I looked out at the lifeless bodies as these strange winds swept over the lifeless bodies and then they began to stand up and had life in them, every one of them. 

How could this be? 

Debbie Hymer