Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Hosea 13:14 

Every single believer should ascribe to Christ’s triumph over death. I have said goodbye to my father and my mother. Both died of cancer. I have said goodbye to my son who took his life in his late thirties. While their loss ushered in profound grief, death was bittersweet because I knew that they were in the presence of God. There is no doubt in my heart about that. 

However, while I could say that God was victorious over death, I have not been as willing to put Him to the test regarding other kinds of death in my life. I have known what it is like to be the ‘living-dead’; dead to myself, dead to my dreams, dead to the experience of Jesus, dead to my past and my future. Can God triumph over these kinds of death? 

How do I know if there are dead places that need a resurrection? I will live frantically, preventing reflection. I will answer a penetrating question with, “I don’t want to talk about that.” I will fear being by myself for long periods because there are things from which I am running. I will be wordless about certain past, painful experiences. 

God is not bound by the grave, whether it be physical or spiritual. He said through the prophet Ezekiel, “You will know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves.” Until I allow Him to touch every dead thing and commence a resurrection, I will not fully know that He is the Lord! How do I begin to appropriate His eternal life? God reveals the secret in Ezekiel 37. “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord’.” I must speak the Word over myself, act on its truth, and allow the Spirit, God’s breath, to infuse my being with life that transcends the physical. He is the Word, He is the breath, the Spirit.  And He brings life to the grave. 

I stand at attention to Your Word today. I adjust my breathing to Yours. Touch every part of me that languishes for life. Amen