It's Your breath

Pastor made a point today during worship that I haven't been able to shake. We were singing "Goodness of God" when he brought the singing to a halt while the music continued.  The chorus says "All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good." It was the next part though, that my mind keeps replaying. "With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God." He made the point of saying that the breath that we take in is a gift, the life flowing into our body moment by moment. So it is our duty to praise Him as we exhale for the gift which was just given.

As I stood there with tears streaming down my face, I was reminded of the creation of man in scripture. He formed man from the dust of the ground. Then He caused sleep to come on man and formed woman. How did they get life? He formed them, yes, but what caused them to live? He breathed into them to give them His breath. 

In Ezekiel 37, we find the account of the valley of dry bones. In the scripture, we read "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." I have thought about the "dry bones", those that were once dead but have come back. Why are they just standing there? Why are they not moving?  It's the absence of breath. Why else did the Spirit of the Lord tell Ezekiel to prophesy to the for winds that the breath would come and they would live? 

Back many years ago, when I was in the world, I went to a Halloween attraction in Birmingham. No, it didn't scare the breath out of me but I did go into a severe asthma attack. There was no breathing treatments or rescue inhalers available to help me. I went from tent to tent seeking first aid, even looking at others who were in attendance in hopes that someone would offer up a puff or two of an inhaler. While the people I was with completed the attraction, I sat gasping for air, pleading to God to just let me breathe. Once out, we made a straight line back to our hometown er. Mind you, we were in a city with hospitals all around us that I could have went and got help much quicker, but I was stubborn. Upon arrival, I ended up on a two hour long steroid breathing treatment and being admitted to the hospital for asthmatic bronchitis. My oxygen levels were low due to my lungs not being able to expand for so long. I was a mess.

That was the most frightening night of my life. In retrospect, I was crying out to God that I did not know, yet He still put breath in my lungs to sustain me until I could find Truth. It was His breath. Even now, there are times when I involuntarily forget to breathe. It usually occurs when I'm really exhausted and having difficulty going to sleep. I lay there, willing myself to breathe. I utter the name of Jesus and before I know it, my breathing will stabilize and I drift off to sleep. It's His breath. It sustains me.