Skeletons in My Closet 💀

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: the dry bones had been there for a long time. They were discarded and scattered as if they were once a mighty army that had fallen in battle; they were even denied a proper burial. He understood the valley as a place of darkness and death, and the unburied corpses were a sign of shame. Ultimately, Ezekiel recognized the dry bones as a disgraced Israel hopelessly scattered.

In Ezekiel’s vision, God instructed him to tell the corpses around this 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 the 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. Therefore, God’s promise was not just a relief. It was life-altering hope. God instructed Ezekiel to tell everyone living among scattered, detached corpses in that ominous place that God could and would use dry, defiled bones to create a better future!

My translation: the skeletons in my closet are bad. And yet, they can live, breathe, and testify to God’s mercy and grace in my life. When God breathes on those bones, they become powerful and will change your life!

A skeleton named Grace?

What I’m trying to say is that if I trust God’s promise to Ezekiel that He will breathe life into dry bones, I can unlock my closet. 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 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 have been 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. Got to have room for the dance floor!