Susan Scott’s sermon starts us with Israel’s period of exile in Babylon, where Jerusalem has fallen, the temple is destroyed, and the people feel like God has abandoned them without hope. Ezekiel reminds the Israelites that God has not forgotten them. God keenly knows their suffering and Showed Ezekiel a vision of hope in the valley of dry bones that could be made to dance. God is greater than death and Israel will live again, even though that will still take decades. Eventually God’s people return, rebuild, and there is a revival of the people. We see the same theme 600 years later in the John scripture with Jesus’s resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus waits until after Lazarus dies to come back a perform a miracle. Jesus, like God to Ezekiel, speaks words of hope and faith to those mourning Lazarus and regretting Jesus’s delayed response. We too, much wait patiently with faith and hope that God will make good on their promises even when our circumstances appear bleak. Remember that God is greater than death, greater than our problems, and when God is at work there is always hope.
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