Devotionals

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!

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

As you may know, my family and I do a lot of traveling in a year. Most of the time, we take our “home” with us by pulling a fifth-wheel trailer behind us. Recently, while staying in our trailer, I woke up in the middle of the night and needed some fresh air. Sleepily, I reached up and slid open the window by my bed and then drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I noticed a bloody cut on my index finger that was causing noticeable pain. I had no idea what I had done! Then I vaguely remembered messing with that window in the middle of the night. Evidently I had a very sharp problem on that window!

The truth is, no one enjoys pain. I don’t like toothaches, body aches, or broken bones because I don’t like pain. Pain is not always the problem; pain is designed to point you to the problem. The worst place to be is in a dreadful condition but not know it because there is no warning mechanism. The worst problems are the ones that pose as answers!

The people God addressed in Hosea were looking to idols to answer their problems. The idols weren’t the answer; the idols were the problem! The pain that Israel suffered was not the problem; the pain was sent and allowed by God to point people to their need and God’s answer. God said of them, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee. . . .” What they did not know did, in fact, hurt them!

The worst thing that can happen to you is to think you are fine, yet be living in lack of God Almighty. God allowed pain in Hosea’s day in order for His people to realize their problem. You cannot find contentment while forgetting the One who gives it. God designed you, He made you, and He provides for you. He provides both provision and pain so that you will look to Him.

Camp Quote:

“Pride is often offensive to everyone except the person who owns it.” -Evangelist Bill Rice III

Prayer Requests:

1. Staff orientation week training continues this week

2. Health, safety, and protection for staff this summer

Does God take sin personally? The very question seems to take God from His high and exalted place and frame Him in terms that seem almost human. While God is a holy Being, He is not a human being. Yet God addresses sin and those who He loves in a very personal way in Hosea.

God sent Hosea to the northern kingdom of Israel to call them back to Himself. The name Hosea means “salvation.” But a person can’t be saved if he can’t see himself as lost! A person can’t see himself as lost until he sees himself from God’s perspective and standard.

It is a modern myth that someone can leave or reject a person that loves them and there be no hard feelings. The destruction of homes today, for instance, seems to be an abstract and legal matter. Oftentimes, estranged spouses will say, “Well, we are still friends.” That detachment is almost the very definition of sin in Hosea. Sin is described as a departure, not from a code or a command, but from a Person.

Hosea demonstrated the painfulness of Israel’s departure from God by taking a wife who would be unfaithful. The Bible says that the children of Israel committed a great unfaithfulness in “departing from the Lord.” Sin is a personal matter! Sin is not against a person or a code of conduct; sin is against God.

There is a sense in which you can be living in a state of sin, even while you’re doing everything “technically” right. Remember, sin is a departure from the Lord. You can do things that are expected of you but still be drifting away from God. The pain that Hosea’s unfaithful wife caused him could be no greater than the ingratitude we show the Lord when we drift from Him.

Matthew 22:37 reminds us that the “great commandment in the law” is “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” It certainly does matter what you do, and what you do should be an indication of Who you love. However, what you do can never make up for a lack of love to God who made you, loves you, and redeemed you by the high cost of His Son.

Camp Quote:

“Lowliness means not being self-absorbed but aware of the needs of others.” -Evangelist Troy Carlson

Prayer Requests:

1. Staff orientation week training continues this week

2. Health, safety, and protection for staff this summer

God’s vision of the future is just as certain as if it were already a memory. But if you do not fully understand or comprehend what God says about the future, you are not alone. I am not so sure that Daniel knew completely either! While I think Daniel understood the broad strokes of what God revealed to him about the future, I am sure he did not completely understand the specific timing of everything.

The Bible is meant to be understood. The Bible is meant to be carefully studied. We would all do well to study the Bible, including the prophesy portions of Scripture. However, our peace for the future should not come in understanding every sign; it should come in knowing the One that gave the signs!

You may know that I travel quite a bit with my family. Suppose we are driving to California. What do you think my eight-year-old asks me an hour into the trip? Like your kid probably does, he says, “Dad, are we there yet? How far to California?” Now, that is a question that has an informed answer, and that is one question that I can actually answer! I can answer Weston’s question by either pointing to a road sign that says, “California-2,314 miles,” or I can encourage him to sit tight because the truck he is riding in is heading to California. Weston doesn’t comprehend miles and nor what is involved in the trip; but he doesn’t have to understand every road sign if he knows his father. If his dad makes it to California, and he is with his dad, he will make it, too!

Friend, you don’t have to understand every sign if you know the Lord who made them. Daniel expressed some anxiety about not understanding, but he expressed his anxiety to the very God who was already in the future! My confidence does not come because I know every minute detail of the future; it comes because I can talk real-time, at any time, to the One who holds the future!