"Rattlin' Sound"

This Blog is updated each Tuesday.

There are moments when we hear a Scripture we have heard a hundred times in a new and different way that makes us listen as if for the first time. I am enthralled by the book of Ezekiel.

It blows me away. The passion. The severity. The intensity. 

Only people moved to desperation seek to preach out of Ezekiel. There are no meager words there to stroke our egos. I have several times heard sermons on

 The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones as laid out in Ezekiel 37, but as I heard Robert say the words in verse 7 it sent chills up my arm.

Ezekiel 37:7

"So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone."

Every other time I have heard "a rattling sound" (probably even when I say it), it has sounded very 'clinical.'

Rattling, like a baby rattle. Imagine a little bit of drawl and an whole lot of authority.

 "A rattlin' sound!" I thought I heard 

the bones coming together. 
This Scripture is often used to point to a need for a revival among us. We are the dry, disconnected bones. Ezekiel is plopped down into a valley of dry bones that are not even connected. God tells him to prophesy to them and they come together. 

This is where the children's song about the bones connecting comes from. "The head bone is connected to the ...")

We have omitted the first part of the song where it says, "Ezekiel cried, "Dems dry bones" and the last "hear the word of the Lord."

I find that we omit a lot of things and  keep ourselves spiritually stagnant. As I have stared out at my own valley of dry bones and looked upon the vast spiritual desert that surrounds me, I believe I heard a "rattlin' sound." I asked the Lord, 

"really?" Could it be time for revival for us? For those I love? Yes. 

Ezekiel 37:4-14

 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' "

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

May God speak life into your dry bones this very moment. 

I pray you hear a "rattlin' sound."

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"(x3)                               Oh hear the word of the Lord.

The foot bone con-nected to the (pause) leg-bone,
The leg bone connected to the (') knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the (') thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the (') back bone,
The back bone connected to the (') neck bone
The neck bone connected to the (') head bone
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun' (x3)
Oh hear the word of the Lord

The head-bone connected to the neck-bone,
the neck-bone connected to the back-bone

The backbone connected to the thigh-bone

the thighbone connected to the kee-bone

the kneebone connected to the leg bone

the leg bone connected to the foot bone

Oh hear the word of the Lord

*Saw this fabulous guy after leading worship at Austin Baptist Church on Sunday.

**all pictures taken around the Buda area and are the © property of Stephanie Cherry.