Amos 7:7 “Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.”
Are You Plumb?
Everyone today is big on “balance.” It seems everyone thinks he is, or wants to be, balanced. Balancing work and homelife. Balancing your budget. Balancing your diet. Balancing your social life. You could probably write a book or two about those topics, don’t you think? If everyone is so enamored with balance, but exactly what is it?
Balance is important because gravity is absolute. That is, there is a standard. Most people, in their quest to achieve balance, often look at the wrong standard. No one is balanced because he cuts a straight line between two extremes. Balance is aligning with the truth. The point is not where you find yourself in comparison to others; the point is where you are in comparison to God.
The people of Amos’ day thought they were fine. They were religious and prosperous financially. By the standards of religion and money, they seemed to be doing well. However, in relation to the law of God, they were not “plumb.”
According to the dictionary, a plumbline is “a line from which a weight is suspended to determine verticality or depth.” If something is plumb, it is straight and aligned with Earth’s center of gravity. In other words, it is balanced. In construction, you use a plumbline to check your work and make sure it is straight. There is an absolute that is based on God’s law of gravity, not another man-made building or landmark or the surrounding terrain. You can’t get straight and plumb unless you align with the standard!
In life, God’s Word functions as our plumbline. You are not balanced just because you strike a middle position between two groups of people. What society considers balanced is always shifting and changing because it is based on extremes instead of an absolute standard. To be balanced, do not look at two extremes and then take the middle ground. No, align yourself with God’s truth and you’ll find that you are balanced because you are plumb with His standard!