Devotion based on Week 3 of “The Prophets” – Amos (WATCH HERE)
Align your heart to worship the Lord!
The plumbline is a blessing.
Imagine if your house was built without any instrument to ensure the walls were straight. While the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” is a rare exception, buildings with crooked walls are buildings whose walls will crumble.
The same is true of our lives.
The plumbline the Lord showed Amos was to measure the hearts and lives of Israel, as well as give us an opportunity to reflect and not what might be out of line in our lives.
At the forefront of Amos’ message from the Lord was to call hearts back to alignment with the Lord. The “brick” of their hearts were not aligned to worship the Lord, but rather to worship the idols placed in various cities, other than Jerusalem. People were told and thought that by going to these places, it was the same as worshipping the Lord.
It wasn’t.
The idols in the shape of calves were not the LORD who brought the people out of Egypt. The sacrifices were empty efforts that had no heart of true worship aligned to the LORD. Having people note your religiosity and brag about it was a far cry from a heart that aligned to the LORD and worshiped in Spirit and truth, without any concern for what other people saw or thought. Here’s what Amos spoke to the people on behalf of the LORD:
Amos 4:4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. 5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings— boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
The prophet Isaiah summed it up this way (Isaiah 29:13):
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
So how does your heart of worship align to the plumb line of the LORD? Out of plumb looks like worship that is done simply out of habit, not heart. Out of plumb worship looks like personal recognition rather than humble repentance. Out of plumb worship seeks to be known and recognized by people around rather than to be heard and recognized at the throne of grace. Out of plumb worship focuses on the efforts of man rather than the grace of God.
Worship that the LORD loves is worship that comes from hearts changed by the truth of grace, humbled in repentance and moved by the Spirit. Worship that is plumb is expressed with all our heart, soul and mind loving the LORD. Worship that is solid is not just a Sunday weekend, but an every day attitude that lives in view of God’s mercy and for the purpose of proclaiming God’s mercy.
This is the worship that the LORD finds aligned to his plumb line!
Apply: Evaluate your life of worship. Where does it align? Where is it off? Ask the Spirit of God to work in your heart and life to align all to the Lord in worship that comes from a heart that is changed by the LORD.
Prayer: LORD, forgive me for empty, ritualistic, self-centered worship of you. Change my heart to live in view of your mercy and always live a life of worship that always reflects that mercy. AMEN.