DO YOU HAVE A PLUMB LINE?
Ephesians 1:3-14
Amos 7:7-15
When the Israelites pulled away from God, they pulled away from the principles God had given them. God sent Amos to set them straight. Amos showed them the plumb line God set as the standard and told them to come back to the values God had shown them.
Apparently, the abundance and success of the Israelites were at the expense of the poor and lowly. As we read through the Book of Amos, we hear him cry out again and again against using the weak and poor. Amos says that they “Sell the needy for a pair of sandals,” and that they “push the afflicted out of the way and trample the poor.” They have gotten their wealth by abusing the lowly.
They have forgotten the justice and compassion that God demands and therefore God is warning them that the end of their society is coming. Finally, Amos cries out “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate.” Then he summarizes his message against abuse and injustice in those well-known words, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
TO BE CONTINUED ………
