The Plumbline
“Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:” (Amos 7:1-8)
Today’s Morsel: A plumbline is often used for finding depths or determining the vertical on an uprightness of a surface. But in the Bible, however, it can represent that we are not maintaining and living up to the righteous and holiness of God’s standard in our lives. It can represent waywardness. God expects us to walk uprightly and to do what is right based on the standard which He has already set in His word. Amos, who was not a prophet until God called him but was a shepherd, was shown a host of warnings by visions of Israel’s violation of His standard. He was shown grasshoppers eating up the crops. And then he is shown a wildfire consuming everything. In these two visions, each time Amos asked the Lord to forgive, God repented of the evil in which He was about to bring upon them. But then God stands upon the wall with a plumbline in His hand. “And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them anymore.” What I believe that God was saying to Amos is that when my people violate my standard, I will no longer forgive them for their wrong. Especially when they know what is right. He was no longer just going to allow them to keep doing wrong and expecting good to come from it. But as a righteous judge, He was going to judge right based on the standard and not what they may think. Jesus said: “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23) God’s word is His standard and we must become a doer of it and not just a hearer of it, if we are going to live out God’s standard in our lives. Standards are not for your destruction. They are for your good!
Sing: If when you give the best of your service telling the world, that the Savior has come, be not dismayed, if friends don’t believe you, He’ll understand and say, “Well Done!”
Thought For Today: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48)
No comments:
Post a Comment