A friend of mine sent me an email recently regarding aircraft boneyards. Located in the western part of the United States are a number of aircraft boneyards. Most are owned by the government, and some are owned by private companies. Some airplanes are kept there temporarily, and others are utilized for parts. Each plane originally cost anywhere from a few million to hundreds of millions of dollars, and they are just sitting there doing no productive work. These airplanes have the capacity of flying again, carrying cargo, and carrying people to their destinations. Or, in the case of the military planes, they are capable of going into battle. That is a lot of potential, sitting on the ground in the desert.
I can't help but think of the church. The church of Jesus Christ has tremendous potential. But much of it is grounded. It is in the boneyard, still looking like the church, capable of doing great things, but grounded.
God gave Ezekiel a vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. The valley was full of bones. God asked him, can these bones live? Ezekiel replied to the Lord, you know. God said, I will cause the bones to live. Ezekiel began to prophesy and
"there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord GOD says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!" So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army." Ezekiel 37:7-10 God was communicating with Ezekiel that He was not finished with Israel, he would bring new life to them.
The church is like the Valley of Dry Bones. We need the breath of God and the power of God through a spiritual awakening.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Will the church return to flight, and be who God has called us to be? Or will we stay on the ground? Unrealized potential accomplishes nothing.
The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom, but there is also a significant amount of instruction regarding how and when to apply it. Many of us get ourselves in trouble when we either lag behind where God wants us to be, or run ahead of where God is working.
