Where God Breathes, Life Follows
God gave the prophet Ezekiel a vision that must have been both strange and stunning: a valley full of dry bones. Lifeless. Scattered. Forgotten. It was a symbol of Israel’s spiritual and national state—cut off, broken, and hopeless.
But then God speaks: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezekiel 37:5 NIV). It’s a promise not just of revival, but of complete restoration.
In Hebrew, the word for breath is ruach—a word that also means spirit or wind. God was saying, “I will fill what is dead with My Spirit and bring it back to life.”
This wasn’t just a promise for Israel—it’s a glimpse into what God can do in any soul that feels dry, discouraged, or distant. Maybe you’ve been through a long season of spiritual weariness. Maybe you feel like the life has been drained out of your faith. But the God who breathes life into dry bones is still breathing today.
We serve a God who brings dead things back to life. Whether it’s a nation, a community, a heart, or even His Son after His death on the cross, He restores what’s been lost, renews what’s been broken, and revives what feels beyond hope.
If your soul feels empty, ask Him to breathe His Spirit into you again. Because where God breathes, life follows.
Responding to God at All Times
Throughout our lives, we will all experience both suffering and joy. We'll have times of great grief and times of overflowing happiness. Sometimes, they’ll be separate seasons—but other times, these experiences come together.
In either case and in any situation, James expected Christians to come to God. If someone was suffering, prayer was the call to action. If someone was cheerful, people were to pause and praise God.
This might seem obvious, but when suffering clouds our thinking, we can sometimes forget to prioritize prayer. And when things are going well and we're feeling cheerful, it’s easy to just enjoy our season and not stop long enough to praise God for it. But every season of life is actually just an opportunity to put into practice what James wrote about…
When we are suffering, let us pray. When those around us are suffering, let us pray. When we are cheerful or happy, let us praise God. When others are happy, let us praise God with ...