“When I leave this conversation, I won’t be thinking too
much about it”, Michael, an atheist, told me half an hour into a sidewalk
dialogue. We had been talking about his
beliefs and experiences, and Michael had said this as a sort of “been there,
done that” statement. He had told me of
some bad experiences growing up in a Bible-based cult, and how he wasn’t too
impressed with some of the Christian churches he has visited since leaving the
cult. He had pretty much put them all in
the same category and decided he wants nothing to do with religion.
So should I have given up talking with Michael and moved on
to the greener pastures of someone who might be more interested? For me it’s always tempting to think that non-Christians
take as much interest in the things of God as Christians do, but I’m learning
that claims of non-interest like Michaels are often very honest and accurate. He really isn’t interested.
For believers, prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship might
be the spiritual bread that feeds our souls, but we shouldn’t expect spiritually
blind or dead people to also crave spiritual nourishment. Michael wasn’t really seeking God before our
conversation, so why should I expect him to do so afterward?
But God takes delight in bringing hope in hopeless situations,
in bringing death to life, in making a valley of dry bones regenerate into an entire
army. In the well-known chapter of the
dry bones, Ezekiel 37, God told Ezekiel “Prophesy to these bones and say to
them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord
says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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.”
Why did God show Ezekiel such a miraculous sign? The answer is found in the very next
statement: “Then you will know that I am
the Lord.’”
Of course, skeptics are constantly asking where the miracles
are, why don’t they happen more often, why doesn’t every person I share the
Gospel with take an interest and immediately come to faith? I believe it has a lot to do with the dry
bones. One must be in a completely
hopeless situation to really see and appreciate the miracle, and only then will
you know that it is the Lord who has done it.
I kept talking with Michael, not because I can convince him
of the Gospel, but because God can. If
God could bring life to a bag of “dry bones” like myself, then I know full well
he can do so also for Michael.
Thanks Michael, for allowing me to record our
conversation! It can be seen HERE at https://youtu.be/5g22crOuoAI
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