immeasurably more

I'm struggling.
It's a deep struggle.
It's a struggle I'm sure many of you understand. 
It's full of emotions and longings and callings and commissions.
And it grows.

I weep on the inside.  Sometimes on the outside.
My heart breaks for so many things.

Daily, I see profiles of "waiting children".  Orphans.
Children without a home, and "waiting" means the families are even harder to find.
I see friends with broken hearts.
I see brave children fighting big diseases.
I see images and hear stories of women working desperately to pull themselves out of poverty and away from abuse.
Just days ago, a community in Ethiopia suffered a cruel tragedy.  The people in Korah live at a landfill.  They live next to mountains of trash so they can spend their days searching through it.  There was a massive landslide of this dump that literally covered some of these homes. Many lives were lost.
I see little ones trying to learn math and sit in a desk with confused hearts and sleepy eyes.
I see how people walk through their days without a real hope, without knowing real life and love.

It's hard not to be overcome.
I know God does not intend for me to be overcome by it.

So, do I ignore it?

I mean it's too much.
I literally cannot bear it, when I really look.

So, do I look?
Of course, He has called us to look, to see. . . and to act.

How? and why does it matter?
How can it matter what I do? - I can't do much.
And what do I do?

I WANT TO DO SOMETHING!

This is my struggle.
And I keep taking it to my God.
He is big enough.
He can look and doesn't have to turn away.
Compassion requires extreme strength, but we often liken it to weakness.
My God sees with ultimate compassion, and He never looks away.

Hope.  Scripture is full of hope.

Ezekiel.
God gave Ezekiel some big messages for His people.
They had made a mess of things, and they were scattered all over.  Ezekiel gave them some heavy messages, but He also spoke some big hope.  Hope that is meant for us.

37 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. ² He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. ³ Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
⁴ Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! ⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
⁷ So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. ⁸ Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
⁹ Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
¹⁰ So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ ¹² Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”

Hope.
This might not have been the scripture you were thinking of, but wait. . .

The valley - No one wants to go to a dead valley.  The dry bones and all these images are kind of creepy, but
God took Ezekiel to the valley.
What a horrible image.  I'm sure Ezekiel was overcome by it.
Just death and emptiness.
God asks him if these bones could have life again.
Ezekiel responds acknowledging only God would know more than what lay in front of them.
Faith.  It extends beyond what you can see.
God gives Ezekiel a message for the bones, for the lost, for the dead.
He tells him to speak a message of hope.  He tells Ezekiel to tell them they will have life again.
So, Ezekiel speaks God's words.
Obedience.
That is the only thing Ezekiel brings to the story - Obedience.

The bones literally become bodies again before his eyes.
A miracle of God.
That's not the end though.
God restored the physical, but He was not done.
God is never done until the spiritual life is restored.

God gives Ezekiel another message.
Ezekiel is to call the very breath of life into the bodies.
Obedience.
God breathes life into every one.
The power is the Lord's. 

God restored life in this vision, and God restores and completes this hope in us today.
God chooses - in His love and wisdom - He chooses to use us.  
He tells us to speak.
God calls us to the valley, and He gives us the words.
We are not capable of restoring life, but when we go - God does.
When we are not too selfish - too scared - too busy, 
we go 
and God breathes life.


This "valley of dry bones" took me back to the "valley of the shadow of death".
I wrote on that in this post recently.
This valley is not just some difficult piece of your own life.
It's about others.
The valley is where the Good Shepherd is leading us.
To bring Life to others.

The 23rd Psalm holds wonderful hope and promises, but those promises are found in the valley.
That psalm speaks of us being led by our Shepherd.
"Though I walk (follow) through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil".
We are led to the valley because that is where our God is going.
Our God of love and compassion is going where the need is.  He is not in the distance.

If I am following, then the valley is also where I am going.


Ezekiel 37 - the valley of dry bones - is actually a vision depicting a message of hope God had just given Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 34 is about the need for a Good Shepherd, a Shepherd who would not fail.
This message of hope is paired with some reprimands that are really tough to swallow.
Seriously.  This is tough, but please read it.

Ezekiel 34

34 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

⁷ “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
¹¹ “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
¹⁷ “‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, ²² I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
²⁵ “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. ²⁶ I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. ³⁰ Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. ³¹ You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”


God speaks to the leaders of Israel who have failed.
They have failed to care for God's people.
They have been selfish.

But, then God gives them the hope of the Good Shepherd.
Jesus would come, and He would care for the people.
Jesus would give and provide.
But the warning continues about the selfish way they had been living and His requirement for them to change.

Jesus has come.
He is our Good Shepherd.
If we are truly following Him, we are changed.
We become a part of His work and mission.
We have to go the valley.
We can't turn away.
We have to speak the words God gives us.
But our hope continues in that the power is His.
God will restore; it's not our work.
We are not capable; He is.

The promises in the 23rd Psalm are real.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Jesus has called us to follow Him.
To take up our cross and follow Him.
He has charged us with the Great Commission.
Jesus says our love for Him is shown when we "feed His sheep".
But He also says

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” 

Matt. 11:28-30

We follow.  We join Him.
We are obedient.
But, somehow He carries the load.  He takes the burden.

It's all a great mystery and a great miracle,
but we don't see it and we don't experience it until we go
and speak the words we are given.

Miracles from ashes accomplish exactly what God intended :
Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’   
Ezekiel 37:14
Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord.   
Ezekiel 34:30

I have seen it.
I have seen it so many times through so many people.
There are so many around me, near and far, who are honoring God in serving others.


I have seen it in Sofi.
The miracles.  The new life.
God has restored life in her right before our eyes.
I heard Kevin speak words God gave him.
I am seeing God work miracles.

But, I wonder.
I wonder about times when I didn't go . . .
When I didn't look . .


I pray for my selfishness to be stripped away.
That's an ongoing, daily battle.
But, I want to see God restore life to the valley.

I want to go.
I want to see.
It's okay to weep, because I know the hope,
I know the God who will breathe life.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,  to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3: 20-21