Devotion based on Week 3 of “The Prophets” – Amos (WATCH HERE)
Jesus used parables to teach spiritual truths. The LORD gave his prophet visions that provided concrete pictures of what he was trying to communicate to his people.
For Amos, one of those pictures was the LORD standing next to a wall holding a plumb line.
A plumb line is a thin, yet strong, string with a weight (plumb bob) at the end. The line is held or secured above where a wall was to be built with the weight just slightly off the ground. The force of gravity would pull straight down on the plumb bob and make the string straight up and down. Masons would then align their bricks to this line to ensure the wall was straight.
Straight walls provide the most strength to a building. No one would want a mason to “eyeball” his project and “hope” that the wall was straight. Sure it might look “pretty” straight and maybe even stand. However, if the owner of the house would come and hang a plumb line against the wall and find it out of plumb, they would find it unsatisfactory and want the wall redone.
The LORD uses this ancient practice of brick laying to speak of the spiritual condition of his people. Here’s what Amos saw (Amos 7:7-9)
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”
The plumb line was the LORD’s. He was the one who would set the plumb line and determine the spiritual condition of Israel. What he would find is hearts and lives grossly out of line with his word of truth and holy law.
The result?
The wall would be knocked down. “I will spare them no longer.”
The way they were building their lives around hearts that had moved away from the LORD left anything but a solid spiritual wall. It was a wall that was shaky, doomed to fall, and needed to be rebuilt true to plumb.
What would the Lord find in your heart and life if he held a plumb line to our spiritual condition? We’d like to think it aligns well, but to be sure, we have bricks of life that are out of line. Devotions that follow will address those specifically.
But here’s the truth about the LORD’s heart.
He wants our hearts and lives aligned to him because he loves us enough to let us think we are building a solid wall of faith, only to have it crumble when he returns. The LORD loves us enough to put his plumb line on our hearts and bring to use the realization that aspects of our life need repentance, forgiveness and rebuilding along the line of the LORD. This is a blessing, not a curse.
Sure the people of Israel would go into captivity. That was the consequence. However, the goal of the judgment was to bring the people back in line with the heart of God.
If it takes knocking the wall down, so be it.
The LORD can then rebuild the wall true to plumb.
Apply: What parts of your life would the LORD find out of line/plumb with his Word and ways? As these areas are pointed out, respond with a heart of humility to allow the LORD to build your life in line with his will and ways.
Prayer: LORD, thank you for your love that is willing to put a plumbline on my heart and realign all my thoughts, words, and actions to your perfect word and ways. AMEN.