PLUMB GOOD
Amos 7:8 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 among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel had sinned terribly against the Lord by worshiping idols. God had declared that he would send his punishment on them. He said there would be swarms of locusts that would devour the crops and fire that would devour the rest of the land. Amos begged the Lord to show mercy and the Lord did, but then the Lord said to Amos that there would be a plumb line that would be among the people. God would not tolerate the idol worship of his people any longer. Their high places and sanctuaries for their idol worship would be destroyed.
A plumb line is a tool used by engineers and construction workers as far back as when the pyramids of Egypt were built. They could have been used even further back than that, but history is just not certain. It is a simple device that can be made from just a piece of string and a rock. But as simple as it maybe, it is critical to use in order to make a wall or building straight up and down. What makes it so useful and accurate is the always constant force of gravity. When the stones and ultimately the walls of the building are lined up with the string they will be exactly plumb or straight up and down. The only way it can go wrong is if something changes the strings freedom to be straight. If someone lets another stone touch the string or the wind blows it the plumb line will be useless. Left on it’s on it will always be perfect whether it is made from a simple rock and string or an expensive thread and gold weight. The device or plumb is dependant on the never changing force of gravity.
For the Jews of Amos’s day the plumb line was the law given by God, and God was the constant never changing force that kept the law in place. As long as the Jews would obey God’s law, they stayed in covenant with God and he would bless them. Their lives would be built on righteousness, and their descendants would build on those same fundamental principles and be blessed by God as well. Sad to say the Jews did not always allow the plum of God’s law to direct their lives as God intended. They would look to the nations that surrounded them, and start doing the things that they did. They began to trust in idols made of stone, metal and wood. Idols that were demonic and condoned sin and evil. They would sacrifice their children in fire to their idols and much more. The idols of the Northern Kingdom had impeded the righteousness that God intended for their lives. Now instead of comparing their lives to the righteousness of God and his law they compared their lives to their neighbors that were living in sin. All of a sudden their lives didn’t seem to appear so bad. In some cases they may have felt that their lives were even better.
In reality how we see ourselves is not important. What is important is how the one that holds our eternal destiny of heaven or hell in his hands is the one that really matters. We are all accountable to the one that created us, and that is the Lord God. He is the one that sets our standards for what is acceptable and what is not. When God set the standard by giving the law to the Jews, it would be that law that they would be judged by.
While a wall can be built not using a plumb line, it will never have the strength that a wall that is true will have. It will affect all the other walls in a negative way. Even the windows, doors and the roof will be compromised in its strength. So it is with a person's life. When we set the standards for our life it will never turn out well. While God and his laws are unchanging, God in his mercy and grace has given us a new plumb that we can look to for the direction of our life. This is his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. If we seek to be Christ-like we will never go wrong in God’s sight. Jesus is not only all that the law stands for, but he is the exact representation of God. Granted no one will ever live a perfect life like Jesus did, but through his grace Jesus imparts his righteousness in us. Our failings due to our sinfulness is overcome by his atonement. When God looks at a Christian he sees the righteousness of Christ. Suddenly the plumb of Jesus or God’s standard is seen imparted in us.
Jesus gave an illustration of this very fact. In Matthew 7:24-27 he says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man, who built his house on sand. The rain came down the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Anytime we put our trust in something other than Jesus we are building on sand, and this will end in disappointment. Many Christians will put their hope of forgiveness in trying to be good, but when we put our goodness beside Jesus it will never be good enough. Some hope in sacrifice, baptism, church membership, even quoting scripture, but when we put any of those things beside Jesus they will be terribly lacking. We are who we are, because of Jesus being who he is. Trusting him enables us to stand on him being our perfect solid rock. When we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the likeness of Jesus, we are becoming perfectly plumb. We are becoming all that God created us to be.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, please have your will with us. Please mold us and shape us in the image of Jesus. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
