My wife and I walked into a post office to check on a delayed package. After explaining the situation, the clerk typed the tracking number into her computer and awaited the results. Out for delivery. I asked hopefully, does this mean the package will arrive today? The upbeat clerk replied in a chipper voice, Maybe!

In other words, God only knows. Like drawing Moses from the waters, we needed the hand of God to pull the package from the bowels of the postal service. The package arrived three days later.

The Lord took Ezekiel to a vast valley filled with dry bones. God asked him, Son of man, can these bones live? I love Ezekiel’s wise response—Sovereign Lord, you alone know.

Only God knows the answers to the many questions we face in life. Why did I lose that job? Why does my friend suffer? Why do children die in wars? God only knows.

Ezekiel addressed the Lord as Sovereign. The title connotes supreme power and authority. The Creator possesses authority over nature. In front of Ezekiel, God formed the bones into flesh and breathed live into the bodies, creating a vast army.

Our Sovereign works as he wishes. He infuses life into desolate situations and hope into our day to day.

Life often feels like the inner workings of the post office—God only knows what’s going on. But when I think more deeply about that phrase I find hope, because indeed God knows what’s going on.

Ezekiel 37 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Claudio Schwarz