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. – Ezekiel 37:6

Today's Scripture Reading (October 5, 2026): Ezekiel 37

I love sitting down with friends and just talking. Admittedly, I like the conversation to be consequential. I enjoy sitting with friends and talking politics, something I try to do at least occasionally. And I have been like this for quite a while. In 2026, as the Canadian province of Alberta prepares to vote on separating from Canada, I remembered moments from childhood, when Quebec considered the same question. I remember sitting in front of a black-and-white television, watching for news of what Quebec had decided, hoping the people of Quebec would choose to stay with Canada, even though I lived thousands of miles away in eastern Canada. My sense, then and now, was that these questions often resolve around a feeling of hopelessness. Alberta and Quebec share that they sometimes feel like the national government is not on their side. Hopelessness about their future within Confederation is compared to a dream of what it might be like if the province seceding from the nation could make its own rules. I am not convinced that, in the long run, the sense of hopelessness would be any better if Alberta or Quebec did decide to go it alone. Hopelessness would still reign in our lives, though who we blame for it might change.

Hopelessness has almost become epidemic in our lives. It is robbing us of the sparkle in our lives and the smile in our worship. We are running too hard.  Work is good for us, but too often it doesn't get us where we need to be. The situation seems so hopeless. As a society, the hopeless desires of our hearts are killing us. We are dying.

I love this passage. There is no valley of dry bones. This passage does not tell of a true story of an actual valley; it is a vision or dream God gave Ezekiel as he tried to instill hope in the prophet, who now lived in exile, far from the places of his youth. I remember an old song that my grandfather used to sing. It was an old spiritual that declared the message of the bones: "Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Word of the Lord." I think we might need the song sung over us in our Valley of Dry Bones. We need the life God brought to the dead, dry bones, instilled into our lives. We need life back in our desires. We need God's breath in us. We need a reason to hope.

That hope is what God promised Ezekiel and the exiled nation of Israel, and what he still offers us. To look at our dry lives and bring life where there was none before. To renew us and put the flesh back on our dry bones.

I have no idea what today might hold for you. But remember: when everything seems hopeless, that is the time to turn to God and ask for his hope. Be willing to tell the Creator of this world that the dry bones need life. Remember that the battle is His, not ours. Now, hear the word of the Lord.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 38

I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. – Ezekiel 36:23

Today's Scripture Reading (October 4, 2026): Ezekiel 36

Christianity started as a small provincial belief system. Our best guess is that, at the time of the death of Jesus Christ, the one whom the faith is named and patterned after, there were at most 500 true believers in Christianity. No distinct people groups were the target audience for the belief system. For the Jews, the target audience for the faith is evident. Judaism is aimed at the children of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel and became the father of the nation the Bible calls the Children of God. For Islam, the other sister faith of Christianity, the primary audience is the children of Abraham through Ishmael. But for Christianity, the audience, at least according to the Apostle Paul, is the children of Abraham through faith (Galatians 3). In other words, Christianity's primary audience is the world, or at least the portion of the world that wishes to claim to be the descendants of Abraham in Spirit, whether or not they are physically linked to the patriarch.

Paul finds an echo of the Old Testament belief in Abraham in the gospel presented in the Christian Testament. Paul writes, "Understand, then, that those who have faith [in Jesus Christ] are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you" (Galatians 3:7-8).

So, starting with Paul, this small provincial faith with no real target audience has seen itself as the realization of God's promise to Abraham and to Israel. It is a promise that somehow, through them, they would bless the world. Admittedly, the church has often failed at the task. Somehow, at the same time, the world has often been blessed by God through the church.

This same idea echoes in Ezekiel's words. God says he will show Israel the holiness of his name, and then the world will know that holiness "through them." The idea was that because Israel knew the holiness of God, then they would be able to share that God with the world. The holiness of his name was summed up in the love that sent God to a cross to die for the sins, not of the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob nor of the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael, but of the children of Abraham by faith. In other words, those who are the children of Abraham because they have chosen to be just that: the children of Abraham. They were not born into that position, but have voluntarily chosen to wear that identification badge and share God's love with the people.

With Jesus Christ lifted on the cross, we have seen God's holiness. Now it is time to share that holiness with the world. Those willing to see that sacrifice made on their behalf will also know that the holiness of God has truly been proved before their eyes.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 37

Because you have said, "These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them," even though I the LORD was there. – Ezekiel 35:10

Today's Scripture Reading (October 3, 2026): Ezekiel 35

As the American Civil War dragged on, a story tells of Abraham Lincoln attending a scientific convention in Washington. At one point during the convention, a member called on the President with a question. "Mr. President, we trust during this time of trial in which the nation is engaged, God is on our side, and will give us victory." Lincoln looked at the inquisitive member and replied, "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God's side. For God is always right!" No one knows for sure whether the incident ever happened; no firsthand references to the meeting appear, and the first mention of this conversation appears in the minutes of the Connecticut Temperance Union in 1881, a little more than fifteen years after Lincoln's assassination. As a result, some have rightfully questioned whether the conversation ever happened. However, the comment fits Lincoln and the moral battle he fought during the American Civil War. Lincoln's opposition to slavery was deeply ingrained. In his Peoria speech, given by Lincoln opposing the pro-slavery Kansas Act, Lincoln declared, "I cannot but hate it. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world ..." But it was more than just the hate the President had for slavery. He chose the hard road that led him into the Civil War, and almost to the dissolution of a nation, not because he believed that slavery was wrong, but because everything that he studied and that he knew about God convinced him that God thought that slavery was wrong. And if God thought it was wrong, how could he not oppose it? At least, that is the argument from what we know of the Civil War President.

The central element of God's charge against Mount Seir and Edom was not that they opposed Israel and Judah. While that would have been enough, God also says that they opposed the descendants of Jacob even though they knew that God was there. Their concern was themselves; they wanted what they wanted, and they would chase it, even if it meant opposing God's will. The only God Edom wanted was one that would blindly agree to the nation's aims; that would never be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I have to admit that the one thing that concerns me about the contemporary church, and often contemporary politics, is that we want God to be on our side, but we don't seem to want to figure out exactly where God is moving. It is easier to pray that God will be on our side; that he will rubber-stamp our goals, than it is to commit to be on God's side. After all, making sure we are on God's side might carry us into conflicts for which we are not ready.

If we want to change the world, we don't need God to be on our side. We need to make sure that we are on God's side. The last thing that we want to hear when we finally meet God face to face is God asking us why we opposed him or why we didn't even seem to want to try to be on his side. After all, deep down we know that Abraham Lincoln is correct; God is always right.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 36

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. – Ezekiel 34:4

Today's Scripture Reading (October 2, 2026): Ezekiel 34

Sometimes it is so easy to be so busy living that we lose sight of what we are supposed to be doing. Sometimes we need to take a beat, re-evaluate our activity, and ask: Is the important stuff getting done, or are we just working on busy activities that fill our days but don't really get us anywhere? Being busy isn't enough. However, it also isn't about what we can do alone. Life's tasks are often too big for any of us, and we need a reminder that life is about the team we have built around us.

Ezekiel compares leading Israel to leading sheep. The Prophet outlines the shepherd's job, a task too big for any one person, yet it still needed to be accomplished. If it weren't, then a nation would be lost. In Ezekiel's reality, the shepherds had already failed, and the people were in trouble as a result.

According to Ezekiel, the shepherd's job was to encourage the people, help the hurting heal, and seek the lost. It wasn't optional; it was a task we were called to complete.  So, the question Ezekiel wanted the Shepherds to ask was, "How are we doing?" Even though he was stuck in Babylon among the exiles, the people still needed Jewish shepherds who were caring for the hurting Jewish population.

I have to admit that sometimes the hardest part of the job description is being encouraging. It is so easy to slip into the negative instead of encouraging those around us. Right now, the negative seems to rule our news; it is so easy to wish the weak were stronger rather than taking steps to help them become strong. One thing I want those around me to understand is that our task is to develop leaders, not to steal established leaders from other organizations.

The sheep need us to lead with everything that God has given to us. I hope that we are ready to do it. I dream of the day when we team up to make sure everyone in our communities reaches their potential. Maybe Ezekiel's question is what we need to ask. How are we doing?

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 35

My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. – Ezekiel 33:31

Today's Scripture Reading (October 1, 2026): Ezekiel 33

The Christian Church has failed. God is not dead; rather, his church has steadily refused to die. Our pride drives us, and that pride has created the ideal setting for our failure. It is time to admit that our critics are right. The church really is filled with hypocrites. Of course, this is no surprise. The church's pews are filled with very fallible humans, and humans have a habit of falling short. The church has been left with a choice to make: we can either stay in our comfort zones, or we can let ourselves be stretched, knowing that stretching means that we will fail, and that failure is actually a good thing. By allowing ourselves to be stretched, we become more like Christ. That is also why we can't live up to what we say we believe. We try to live up to that standard; we want to be more like Jesus, but we fail. You fall off a bicycle many times before you finally learn to ride it. We realize that if you never fall, you never learn. The Christian life is similar; in our failures, we learn what it means to be like Jesus.  

However, that isn't really the problem. The actual problem in the Christian Church is more that we often just don't seem to care. We preach a gospel and then refuse to follow it when it is not convenient. We keep looking for reasons why we don't have to follow our own rules. This refusal to even try to live the Christian life is the reason the church fails. Specifically, we don't seem to want to love. I can find no other reason for the behavior that the church seems to exhibit. Vast populations of people have never felt the overwhelming love of Christianity for only one reason: we have never been willing to offer it to them.

As Ezekiel looks at the exiles, this is precisely what he sees in his church. The people are willing to speak about right things, to say that they love, but they are not willing to walk that road. Love requires a selfless spirit, but Ezekiel says that the people's hearts are filled with greed, and greed focuses our hearts on ourselves, making true love impossible.

I believe that the church's obsession with orthodoxy is part of our greed. And as long as we strive to be orthodox, to believe what is right, we will find that we are unable to love because our orthodoxy forces us to concentrate on ourselves instead of on each other. Our orthodoxy stops us not only from seeing the other, but also from loving the other. In the end, love is never about right belief, but rather about right practice. Our problem is that while we want to make sure we are orthodox and believe rightly, God has called his church to love unconditionally. 

In the end, I am convinced that if we love, no one will care that we are hypocrites and that we frequently fall as we try to learn to walk with Christ. But if we refuse to love, then we will be judged harshly, and we will deserve every negative word. The church has failed. And unless we are willing to love, there is no road back to success for us.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 34

Their graves are in the depths of the pit and her army lies around her grave. All who had spread terror in the land of the living are slain, fallen by the sword. – Ezekiel 32:23

Today's Scripture Reading (September 30, 2026): Ezekiel 32

In 246 B.C.E., Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne and became King of the State of Qin, an ancient Chinese state roughly occupying the western section of China. At the time of his accession, Qin Shi Huang was thirteen years old. For the next 25 years, Qin Shi Huang continued the conflict the State of Qin had with the other Chinese states. But in 221 B.C.E., Qin Shi Huang did what no other leader had been able to do; he united the warring Chinese States under one banner: his. To commemorate the unification of the Chinese States, Qin Shi Huang replaced the title King, used by every Shang and Zhou ruler before him, with the title "First Emperor." For the next two millennia, Chinese rulers followed Qin Shi Huang's example and continued to use the title "Emperor."

However, for all of the accomplishments and honor that the memory and record of Qin Shi Huang demand, today we remember him for a vastly different reason. In 1974, some local farmers in the "Lintong District" uncovered a surprise that no one seemed to know about Qin Shi Huang. Buried with the First Emperor was an army of statues. 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Most of Qin Shi Huang's army is still buried, and it has become known as the Terracotta Army. Amazingly, each statue was created to be unique. The entire army was created to protect the emperor after he died as he prepared to enter the afterlife. Although we do not know for sure, the statues likely began being built on the day Qin Shi Huang became King of the State of Qin, when the would-be emperor was only 13 years old.

Ezekiel speaks of all of the warriors who had died, spreading terror throughout the land. Ezekiel knows the reality: the damage these warriors could cause was finished. Whether it is soldiers once alive but now buried in the grave, or the Terracotta Army buried with the First Emperor of China, the truth is that they cannot influence the land of the living. The only soldiers that we need to fear are the ones who remain alive and are still able to handle a weapon.

In the end, the living are responsible for the living. Who knows, maybe Qin Shi Huang got it right. Leave the living soldiers to fight the battle among the living and bury the statues, because whether the soldiers are dead or if they never lived in the first place, they have no authority over those of us who continue to inhabit the land of the living.                

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 33

I made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below. – Ezekiel 31:16

Today's Scripture Reading (September 29, 2026): Ezekiel 31

Ashurbanipal rose to power in the Assyrian Empire in 668 B.C.E. He inherited a growing empire, and early in his reign, he sustained that growth. Soon after Ashurbanipal took control, the Assyrian Empire became the largest empire ever to rule in the known world. The empire extended from the Caucasus region in the north to North Africa in the south, and from the eastern Mediterranean in the west to central Iran in the east. The empire's sheer size became a strain on the kingdom's health. The decline of the Assyrian Empire seems to have been entirely because the empire simply reached too far. Suddenly, the member provinces found they could rebel against their Assyrian overlords because the Assyrians could not police or secure their own territory. With that realization, the fall had begun.

Ezekiel compares the fall of Assyria to the felling of a great tree in the forest. Just as a great tree makes the forest tremble, Ezekiel asserts that the destruction of the Assyrian Empire made the nations tremble. Ezekiel is not prophesying about the future; Ezekiel is not speaking of things that had not yet happened. It is a prophecy of the past; Ezekiel was putting into perspective events that had already taken place. The reign of Ashurbanipal and the fall of the Assyrian Empire had happened probably fifty to sixty years before the exile. Ezekiel seemed to be trying to add understanding to recent history.

However, Ezekiel was right: the nations did tremble, although some possibly trembled with fear while others trembled with anticipation. Of direct concern to Ezekiel were the fates of two nations: Babylon and Egypt. Assyria's overextension opened a window for the Babylonians that might not have existed otherwise. The other major nation in Judah's sphere of influence, Egypt, tried valiantly to aid Assyria but could not stop Assyria's decline and Babylon's rise. Egypt would continue to struggle against Babylon, but could not overcome the new Empire builder, a ruler remembered as Nebuchadnezzar II.

And in the midst of all of this conflict was Judah. The tree that was Assyria had fallen, and Judah was in no position to do anything. Ezekiel wants to make this clear. Judah's disobedience to God had made it a pawn instead of a major player in the events that followed the fall of the Assyrians. God was not absent in all that was happening. In fact, he authored what was happening, including many of the miraculous circumstances that led to the rise of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. But at the center of world events in the Middle East was the moral failure of Judah, the children of God. While other nations had at least tried to follow their made-up gods, Judah had spurned the real one they had once followed.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 32