The Breath of Life

I couldn’t help but notice a correlation woven through these verses (NASB 1995) between the words ‘breath’ and ‘life.’ This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life.  And I will attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will know that I am the LORD’” (Ezekiel 37:5,6). The repetition emphasizes that it is the breath of God that brings life to the bones. This is very much indicative of Adam’s creation where the breath is identified as ‘the breath of life.’ It is the breath that grants life to Adam. Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). Apparently, based on the wanderings of Israel in the desert, this is an important truth to experience, to the extent where we acknowledge that the ‘breath of God’ is even more important than our food for the day. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Two important considerations: first, I interpret ‘everything that proceeds from the mouth of God’ as ‘breath;’ and, second, physical sustenance is important, but we need more than this to really live. We need the breath of God. And God has so richly supplied us with it: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16,17). All of scripture (what is known as the Old and New Testaments) is God’s breath and has the innate power to breathe life into our souls. Let us then pray that God grants us understanding and experience that moves us to acknowledge and to live in expectation that His breath, His word, is the means for life beyond what any physical sustenance can provide.