Devotion based on Week 3 of “The Prophets” – Amos (WATCH HERE)
Sometimes you just have to knock it down and start over.
When a wall is out of plumb, sometimes it can’t be saved, no matter how hard you try.
One wall that’s crooked leads to another distorted wall and finally the whole building is on shaky ground.
But sometimes it’s hard to get there.
Spiritually the people of Israel were out of plumb. Amos points out things of their worship life, their lifestyle, their values and their security that did not align to the Lord.
If one was off, maybe the others could pull them back.
But they were all off.
Why?
Because the people had abandoned listening to the Word of the Lord.
They were doing life their own way with their own priorities, their self-made advice, and their own form of truth.
Like a parent who walks away from a stubborn child who insists on doing things their own way and allows them to experience the consequences of their selfish actions, so the Lord allowed Israel to pursue their own whims as they dismissed him.
The indication they hit bottom is when they realized their predicament and began to seek the Word of the Lord, it was not to be found. Amos 8:11 says, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
They might have all that the world has to offer, but they were void of what the word had to say.
The punishment the Lord promised was coming. The temporal consequences for their sins would be felt.
But the Lord did not leave them without hope.
Amos 9:13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. 14 I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
The goal of the Lord’s message and impending captivity was to awake the hearts of his people back to him. His promise of hope gave the people the picture of what hearts again aligned to the Lord would look like and experience.
The God of all grace, even though the wall had to be destroyed, would rebuild straight to plumb.
Does the Lord do this in our lives today?
Maybe not as drastic as Israel, but perhaps. Perhaps he allows the good things of life to be taken away because we have allowed them to become the ultimate thing. Perhaps he allows a time challenge and hardship where it seems like he is absent, but he is refining and reorienting your heart back to his. God knows best how to help us realize what is out of plumb and then in his grace restore our broken hearts to align to his cross of grace and forgiveness. And when this happens, the life we experience and the eternity we get to look forward to far surpass the pain of allowing the Lord to tear down the misaligned wall and rebuild it straight to his heart.
Apply: How is the Lord working in your life to point out the areas that are out of line and realign them to his heart?
Prayer: Lord thank you for your law that points out where my life is out of alignment. Thank you for your grace that is willing to forgive and rebuild the wall of my heart and life back in alignment with you. Keep me always aligned to you! AMEN.