Amos 7:7–9

Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made 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 not pass by them anymore.
The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”

In Hebrew the words for straight (ישׁר “ya-shar”) and upright (תָּמִים “ta-meem”) also mean true, just, right and blameless, sound, innocent. A plumb line is the classic reference for straightness and uprightness. When God says, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel;” He’s saying that He’s going to measure them by a true standard.

The result is judgement, and this time He’s not going to relent. Jacob being small isn’t enough; they aren’t straight. Compared to a true standard, they fail.

I will not pass by them anymore, seems to be in the Passover sense of the phrase.

Yikes.

This reenforces a point made earlier—a visit from the Lord won’t be the walk in the park we like to think it will be. It’s dangerously arrogant to be confident facing a visit from the Lord.

Glorious? Certainly. Fun? Don’t be so sure.

Unless we think we’re more righteous than Isaiah, we might end up saying what he said in Isaiah 6:5:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

My prayer for revival often includes a plea that we be visited by the Holy Spirit. That’s proper—only the Holy Spirit can bring revival—but, as the cliché says, “Be careful what you wish for.”

A prayer for revival is a no-holds-barred request for change. The LORD gets to pick what gets changed.

Yikes.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.