How can a wall be off an inch unless the carpenter misplaced
or didn’t use a plumb line or level? Without these vital tools, how would one
know to position the studs correctly? More importantly, how would one set a
reliable foundation?
A plumb line is a weight suspended by a string and used as a
vertical reference line. Lowering the weight causes the line to pull taut. Top
and bottom points are then marked and used as guides for a straight line. In today’s
passage, the Lord is standing on a completed wall appropriately constructed—the
wall is straight. The Lord spoke to His prophet Amos using this imagery as the “straightness”
by which He would judge Israel’s sin and unrepentance. The plumb line in His
hand will mark a reference point for the straight line used when He stands amid
His people, judging with a correct, just, and strict judgment, with no mercy
(v. 8).
Praise God we live on this side of grace: Jesus bore our
sins on the cross. His blood paid the price for the death we deserved. As
believers, we are God’s chosen people, and though He visits us with mercy, we
are accountable for our actions and unconfessed sins. Jesus is the perfect standard
by which God measures your “straightness.” Do the reference marks of your life
lean to the right, left, or hang straight? If God laid a level across your
life, where would the bubble settle? Would it drift right because of your way,
to the left to please others, or would it be centered on God’s standard for
right-living? Our standing, our relationship with God, decides where the string,
weight, and bubble settle.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts.