Fear in the Valley

Ezekiel 37:1-2

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.”

March 1

Have you ever experienced fear in the valley? Have you ever seen the Loin King? In the movie, I recall the place of great curiosity for Simba was the place beyond the horizon. . . the place of shadows. Simba’s Uncle Scar told him, this place was an elephant graveyard. For Simba, this was a place of great adventure, offering danger and excitement. This place lies beyond their borders and as Mufasa told Simba, it was not their place to go.  But what if it was?

I dare say that for most of us, walking around a valley with bones scattered about might not find it to be the most enticing of locations. In fact, I would expect that most people would find it quite eerie, fearful even and looking for the quickest route of escape. Yet, in the verses above, unlike Mufasa telling Simba to stay away, God takes Ezekiel to this valley and not only drops him off, but makes him stay there. Ezekiel walks around the place simply for the purpose of seeing the massive number of people who must have died to have left the massive volume of bones on the valley floor. Did he have any fear? We really do not know, because that information is not provided. All we know is that he did it. Maybe, like David, it was a case in which Ezekiel could say, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because you are with me.” After all, God is God of the living and not the dead.

The point to all of this is that sometimes, God is going to call us, or even like Ezekiel, take us into areas where things are not very comfortable . . . even quite scary. Yet, because He has brought us and given us a command, we have the responsibility of remaining until He is finished with us there. Jesus had said that He goes before us. We have the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. Still, because we do not see Him, I must wonder how often we are tempted in moments of danger to run and hide.

In thinking about many biblical images, there seems to be a running theme of death. For instance, Jesus says that those who follow Him must accept their cross and follow Him. The cross is an image of death. Yet, if God is God of the living, then even if we die, we live! Therefore, the next time that God gives you the responsibility of walking around in an area full of bones, or in dangerous situations, fear not. Trust Him . . . and do your job . . . He will take care off the rest!