06/14/2026
DRY BONES
I was giving blood at a blood donation center for a friend who sponsors a yearly blood drive. As I sat there with nothing to do except watch my life’s blood flow from my arm into the pouch beside me, I had a curious thought. I asked the woman who was drawing my blood, “So, how exactly does our body replenish blood after we give blood?” She replied, “Well, I’ve never been asked that before, so I don’t know the answer, but I’ll ask the nurse when she comes in.” The nurse stepped in a minute later and the phlebotomist asked my question for me: “This gentleman wants to know how his blood is produced and replenished after he gives his blood.” The nurse replied, “Blood is manufactured by our bone marrow. As soon as you give a pint of blood, the marrow receives messages from the kidneys that red blood cells are needed and the bone marrow produces it.”
So, get this … the Bible says, “Life is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11), and our bones are the producers and generators of that life source within our bodies. That might not be revelation to you, but it is to me. You see, I remember hearing a couple of proverbs many years ago about our bones, and I always wondered what they meant. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A sound heart is life to the body, But envy [jealousy] is rottenness to the BONES,” and Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit DRIES THE BONES.” Now that I know our life’s blood is produced by our bones, I can see the relevance of those two verses.
Envy and jealousy makes our bones rot (according to Proverbs 14:30) and a broken spirit dries the bones (according to Proverbs 17:22). Speaking from a strictly physical standpoint, dry bones and rotten bones cannot produce healthy blood cells. So, envy, jealousy and brokenness are bad for our bones, bad for our blood, and thus, bad for our physical health.
Knowing this also brings further clarity to Ezekiel’s vision of the “Valley of Dry Bones.” Ezekiel 37:2 makes a point of saying that those bones were “VERY DRY.” There was no marrow in them … no ability to produce life’s blood. God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live again?” In the physical, Ezekiel knew the answer was “NO.” But he also knew the One who was asking the question was the Maker of the Universe, so he simply said, “Lord, You know.” Then, God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. As Ezekiel prophesied, tendons, ligaments and muscles were attached to the bones, and then they were wrapped in flesh. From those DRY BONES, God created an army.
Are you living in envy and jealousy? Do you have a broken spirit? If so, your bones are being affected, as well as your life’s blood. But, God wants to make your DRY BONES live again. Receive the word of the Lord in your life today. Read His scriptures and let them breathe life into you. Repent of envy, jealousy and bitterness so your bones can be healed and your blood can be purged and replenished. Receive strength today from God’s Word!
Ezekiel 37:9-10 (NKJV)
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
