Amos 7:7-15 (NRSV)
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Verse 7This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. Verse 8And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; Verse 9the 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."
Verse 10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. Verse 11For thus Amos has said, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'" Verse 12And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; Verse 13but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom." Verse 14Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, Verse 15and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
Devotion
Our society loves a “victim mentality,” where anything wrong is somebody else’s fault. What’s wrong with me is due to bad parenting, bad schools, mean employer and so on. Our country has problems because politicians are short-sighted, corporations are rapacious, my neighbor doesn’t get rid of his dandelions and so on.
Amos blows that mentality right out of the water. God measures every person and every country with the plumb line of justice. No one can say, “Pass me by, Lord, it’s the next person’s fault.” God’s plumb line stands straight beside each one of us and every society.
We Christians live as both saints and sinners. We live in the embrace of God’s love and forgiveness, but we also live in a world where life works best when lived as God intends, with justice and love as the plumb line of life for each of us.
Prayer
Lord, help us listen to the sometimes lonely and unheeded voices of these ancient prophets, for they knew that life works best when lived according to your will. Amen.