August 01, 2024 | Be God's Light
Locusts and the Plumb Line
Scripture: Amos 7(NIV)
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
3 So the Lord relented.
“This will not happen,” the Lord said.
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
6 So the Lord relented.
“This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.
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.”
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
Devotional
The prophet Amos ministered at a complacent period in the northern kingdom of Israel’s history. Jeroboam II was a very evil king who encouraged idol worship. He followed the ways of his namesake, Jeroboam I, was the first king of Israel over one hundred and fifty years before Amos.
But Jeroboam II was also a successful king. During this period, there was economic prosperity throughout Israel. The wealthier people got, the more they took advantage of others. They began oppressing the poor and conscripting them into slavery. All the while, the nation of Assyria continued to be a shadowy menace to their peace, prosperity, and freedom. Within a few years, Assyria would conquer neighboring Babylon.
Amos warned the people to turn to God, get their lives in order, and stop oppressing others. His message is summed up beautifully in the verse made famous by Martin Luther King, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24).
If the Israelites didn’t change their ways, judgment would come. What was the message embedded in the images of the locusts, fire, and plumb line?
The prophetic words of Amos were not well received. Even the priest of Bethel in Israel told the shepherd prophet from Judah to pack up and go home. Amos was undeterred and concluded this chapter with some sobering words: “Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.” This would come true. Only a few decades later Assyria would conquer them, and the northern kingdom would disappear forever.
If God were to hold a spiritual plumb line up to your life, in what ways would you be standing straight? Are there any areas where you would be out of alignment with the ways of God? What measure is God calling you to take to straighten things out and stand firm?
1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Poem
I Am So Small
If you send forth your locusts
To destroy all I’ve grown
I will starve and not stand
I am so small
If you send forth your fire
To consume all I’ve known
I will faint and not stand
I am so small
If you send forth your Spirit
To empower my faint heart
I will speak and will stand
Though I am so small
If you send forth your blessing
To encourage my soul
I will fight and will stand
Though I am so small
