Amos 7:1-9
There is no doubt that God is still speaking, for He speaks
to me in many ways, so that is not the question, no, the question is am I able
to hear Him? If I’ve heard and not
listened, or been fearful of what you or others would say or think, am I
leaving my family and my community open to harm? Maybe and maybe not, now that was not what
you were expecting me to say, was it? As
we look at God speaking to His prophet Amos, you may be in agreement with my
last statement, but a wise person listens and acts on what God is speaking into
their heart.
Chapter seven begins with God showing Amos, in a vision, the
judgment to come on Israel. The first
judgment was locust coming to destroy the crops just as they were beginning to
sprout. Not only did Amos listen to what
God had said, Amos stood in the gap for a people who wished for only one thing,
that this farmer/prophet would go bother some other people. This was Amos’ talk with the Lord; “O Lord GOD,
please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He
is so small!” The LORD relented
concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the LORD. (Amos 7:2-3
ESV)
In the next vision, God showed Amos a fire that was consuming
the whole of Israel, listen to Amos talk with the Lord; “Then I said, “O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The LORD relented concerning this: “This also
shall not be,” said the Lord GOD. (Amos 7:5-6 ESV) There were real issues in the land of Israel,
the people were taking advantage of the poor, and they were self-absorbed with
what they could buy, or build and were full of pride, an arrogant people. Jesus had an encounter with some Pharisees
and scribes and they wanted to know why his disciples broke the tradition of
the elders. This is what Matthew recorded:
“You hypocrites!
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching
as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew
15:7-9 ESV)
Now, the rest of the story, God had one more vision for
Amos, “This is
what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a
plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what
do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am
setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass
by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries
of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam
with the sword.” (Amos 7:7-9 ESV)
Why do we need a plumb line? Only with some type of plumb line can a wall
be built and without a plumb line a life will become distorted. What you believe about the person will become
unclear, for a person without a moral compass will be deformed. God is not like us, He does not look at the
surface but the heart and the heart needs a plumb line, called the Spirit of
God, to guide it in the will and ways of God.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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