“An uncomfortable truth”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, July 14, 2024
Amos 7: 7-15 (Forward, p. 77) CEV p. 934
Amaziah, the priest at the national temple at Bethel, is uncomfortable with what Amos is saying publicly, and so goes to the king, King Jeroboam, with his complaint. He accuses Amos of ‘plotting against the king in the very heart of Israel.’ He is quite sure that Amos’ message will have a corrosive effect upon the morale of the people of Israel. He says to the king, “Our nation cannot put up with his message for very long.” And then, when the king does nothing about it, he himself goes to Amos and demands that he quit. At this, Amos has a series of dire pronouncements about what is ahead. Previously, his pronouncements have related just to Israel in general:
-their sacred places will be destroyed.
-war will come against the nation.
-King Jeroboam will be put to death.
-Israel’s people will be sent into exile.
But then the pronouncements became personal, directed to Amaziah himself:
-his wife will become a prostitute.
-his sons and daughters will be killed in the war.
-his land will be split up among others.
-he himself will die in a foreign country.
All this stems from Amos’ vision from God of a plumb line, a vertical measuring line weighted down with a plumb bob, set against Israel. A plumb line is used to ascertain just how straight, how vertical, a wall is, and here God is applying this image to His people Israel. He has measured them up and they have been found lacking. And furthermore, the situation is beyond correction.
To me, this raises a necessary question: just how do we measure up? Given the plumb line of God’s word, just how do we look in God’s eyes?
Are we really following His will, listening to Him and doing as He says? Given the state our world is in at present, I would hazard a guess that we are not. And it is not just our world at large, but also our nation, region, and communities, and even our churches. It would seem to me that none of them are exactly as they should be. Yes, it is an uncomfortable truth perhaps, but maybe one that we need to take seriously.
So, perhaps we should look at His word ourselves and see how we are doing. After all, I for one, would hate to have his plumb line applied to us. Sure, 1 Peter (4:17) says that judgment begins at the house of God, so, would it not be wise on our parts to be proactive, see where the faults or shortcomings are, and begin to deal with them? I would think so.
Forward notes: “I am no prophet…I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees” (verse 14).
“Amos is an unlikely prophet, one of many in scripture. Throughout history, God has called all kinds of people to share God’s message with the world. Sometimes, people overlook them and fail to listen to them.
“I love the Bible so much that sometimes I wish there was more of it. Moses’s song at the Red Sea in Exodus is 18 lines long, but only one verse is recorded of the song his sister, the prophet Miriam, sang. And the beautiful prayer of Simeon is recorded at the presentation of Jesus in the temple, but the words of the prophet Anna, who was also there and spontaneously praised God and spoke about the child to all, are not contained in the Gospel of Luke.
“I wonder what has been lost by overlooking the voices of some prophets. I wonder what beautiful messages of hope and encouragement from God have not been handed down across the centuries to us today. I hope that, as we encounter God’s voice around us in the world, we pay attention, no matter how the message is being shared.”
Moving Forward: “How can you listen to what God is saying?”