Skeletons in My Closet? Yep.
I’ve got buckets of bones!
Do you have skeletons in your closet?
Well, there is no more room for skeletons in my closet! I’ve got buckets of bones!
Ok, perhaps I could fit one more bucket behind the marital bucket of bones, but the adolescent skeletons are back there. And behind the adolescent buckets are family of origin bones. Behind those are childhood trauma skeletons. Behind those are religious bones…
I could seriously charge an entrance fee because it’s like a haunted house in there!
Yes, it’s crowded. The why is not important. This post is about what God does with the skeletons in my closet. Spoiler alert — He uses them.
Skeletons in a valley…
In Ezekiel 37:1–28, Ezekiel received a vision regarding dry bones in a desolate valley. To get the full meaning, we must look through Eziekel’s priestly eyes.
Ezekiel was well aware that the valley symbolized a place of darkness and death. But to make matters worse, the unburied corpses were a neon sign flashing “shame.” Ezekiel wasn’t grossed out at the unburied bones.
He was mortified because they were denied a proper burial which violated the laws of the Torah.
Ultimately, Ezekiel recognized the dry bones as a disgraced Israel — God’s people — hopelessly scattered.
In Ezekiel’s vision, God instructed him to tell the corpses lying around the valley of death about their future. What? These bones have a future? It seems like they already met their future, and it was anything but promising. ☠️
Nevertheless, Ezekiel didn’t argue with God about details. He obeyed God and passed along God’s message.
For the record, God’s message was completely opposite of what I would’ve said. I would’ve stood with my hands on my hips and barked, “Look at you, dry and scattered all over the place. Y’all are idiots. You should’ve done what you were supposed to!” 😤
But God’s message was profoundly more poetic and much more affirmative than mine would’ve been. Take a look:
“Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 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 37:4–6.
Skeletons in my closet…
When I read Ezekiel’s vision, I understand the shame, guilt, rot, decay, desolation, and despair of a valley filled with corpses. I understand because I have a valley; it’s called a closet. It’s a place of darkness, death, and shame. And it’s just as horrible as a valley of death.
Speaking of death… Sometimes it takes a keen understanding of the bad stuff in life to truly appreciate the good stuff.
God’s message to Ezekiel started out badly, to say the least…defiled corpses left to rot.
God could’ve just told Ezekiel to give them a proper burial and call it a day. But God had something so incredible in mind that it wasn’t even possible to hope for it! He instructed Ezekiel to tell those scattered, detached corpses in that ominous place that God would piece them back together, fill them with his spirit, and they would live again!
My translation: the skeletons in my closet are bad. And yet, God bids them to rise because, with His work and His Spirit, they can live, breathe, and testify to God’s mercy and grace in my life.
I can unlock my closet!
All of that to say, if I trust God’s promise to Ezekiel that He will breathe life into dry bones, I can unlock my closet for good. Then God can pull out a skeleton — — a trauma or mistake I made…
And with His breath and handiwork, the bones I tried so hard to hide will evolve into a living, breathing example of God’s grace.
Here are a couple of ways I’ve seen Him use my skeletons:
He used the dry bones of marital skeletons to help save other marriages on the brink of disaster.
He put together adolescent skeletons about depression, loneliness, and abuse to reach hopeless teenagers.
And the list goes on and on.
No more skeletons.
I said I have no more room for skeletons in my closet. But not because there are too many skeletons in there (although there are many).
Rather, the skeletons in my closet are breathed upon and reassembled by the living God. Those dry bones are now living, breathing stories of a life remade, and they’re having a party!
No room for skeletons because I’ve got to have room for the dance floor! 🥳
